Tension is high at Radio Africa Group with some employees are keeping off the office just three days after the management announced major restructuring that will see the company say “goodbye to colleagues who have worked to bring the company to where it is”
This statement has been taken quite literally and understandably so. The company’s management has lately been hinting strongly at sacking employee since last year due to a deep drop in business.
Radio Africa Group – which runs The Star newspaper, Kiss TV and a number of radio stations including Classic 105, Kiss 100 and Radio Jambo – is targeting to fire 90 employees, including journalists, between today and Wednesday. The management, led by CEO Patrick Quarco is currently meeting with staff to explain out the issue, as the announcement has caused anxiety in the newsroom and management offices that “no one is working.”
Since Thursday when the memo was released, no list of those being edged out has been released nor anyone given a letter, thus fomenting nervous moments among staff. “It feels like a few hours to circumcision, only that the circumciser is not showing up,” a Star journalist told Business Today moments ago.
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As a sign of things to come, the company has reserved all its boardrooms for the next three days to handle the retrenchment. A letter to staff by Group Human Resources Manager Kathy Kageni-Oganga today says: “We will be using our boardrooms all day today through Wednesday this week. Please let us know if you have any guests expected so we can see how to work around that.”
In a memo released on Thursday, Mr Quarco says the management has taken a comprehensive look at its operations and made tough decisions necessary to focus the company on the significant and promising opportunities of the future. “As a result,” the CEO said in the memo Transforming Our Business for a Digital Future, “we are now undertaking operational efficiency measures to reduce overall operating costs in 2017. This will affect some positions and some roles that will be merged or become redundant.”
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He said a good number of employees would be sent home – inside sources put it at 89, while others say the number could go up to 100 if you factor in recent sackings in the sales department. He said it’s a tough call for the media industry in Kenya, and globally as well, as every media player is restructuring to sit profitably in the digital age. “This right-scaling of our business will ensure that we meet the new demands of a changing advertising market in Kenya.”
He said the fate of employees will be decided by cost-efficiencies and discipline, departmental restructuring, and positional changes as well as performance. This means underperforming units like The Star newspaper, Kiss FM and the newest radio stations will be hard hit.
Mr Quarco said in an article published on the Star online that Radio Africa will redirect its investments into the digital space and expects to launch a number of new products in the next six months, including online radio stations and innovative music offerings. The radio stations under the group are Classic 105, East FM, Kiss 100, Gukena FM, X FM and Radio Jambo.
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