Fresh bout of anxiety has been ignited at Radio Africa Group, after the management introduced a new performance management system that will track every individual’s work. The system, which is part of the Enterprise Resource Planning software acquired last year to automate most functions, has been rolled out in all departments, including management, sales and editorial.
Now all employees at Radio Africa, attached to both management and newsroom, are required to key in their work daily in the ERP portal. The database will then be used for assessment and appraisal which, according to top editors, will also be used to decide whether employees are retained or pushed out. That the price they have to pay for being spared the sack during last month’s retrenchment as they have to give more to earn their keep.
The ERP will keep track of delivery of stories by reporters, while sub-editors will file stories edited and pages done every single day. Senior editors too will file their daily production details.
Convergence falling apart?
At an editorial meeting held yesterday at the company’s headquarters at Lion’s Place, Nairobi, the editors read the riot act to reporters and subeditors, warning that sloppiness and missed targets would not be tolerated. The warning message came as it emerged that many journalists had embraced the convergence model that was implemented mid last year. Chief Editor Charles Kerich said those who don’t adapt to the new system will “fall by the wayside.”
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“The company is growing smaller and you should be willing to multitask,” he told journalists.
Under the convergence model, where journalists work across print, digital and broadcast, each reporter is now required to produce an article for the newspaper and website, audio for radio and video for TV and digital, from every assignment. It’s clearly a model of squeezing more work from less people.
Employees will be tracked using the ERP to ensure they comply with the executive order. One of the editors even said The Star was ready to fire the whole newsroom if that will make people worker harder. The Star is also struggling to find replacements of some of the reliable journalists it fired last month during its massive restructuring.
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