Telkom Kenya is set to sack 575 of its 800 employees as part of the weight-loss restructuring to merge its operations with its rival, Airtel Kenya. A letter from Telkom Kenya’s chief human resources manager, Ms Catherine Olaka, gives the affected employees a one-month redundancy notice.
The move affects employees in the units expected to be transferred to Airtel in the merger deal, including mobile, enterprise and carrier services.
“As a consequence of the transaction,” Ms Olaka says in the letter dated July 31st, 2019, “Telkom will discontinue the transferred business and must terminate the employees that are currently deployed to serve in these functions.”
Other employees who provide administrative and/or support services are also likely to be affected, she said.
After the merger, the remaining units will be retained in a redefined Telkom organization along with the human resources that will be required, in what could save those working in those businesses from the sack.
It’s not all gloom, however. According to the letter, there’s a lifeline with the merged outfit indicating it would provide opportunities to some of the retrenched workers though subject to availability of vacancies “and those individuals meeting the combined entity’s recruitment criteria.”
She said those declared redundant will receive their terminal dues in accordance to employment regulations and collective bargaining agreement. Employees have untill August 2nd to accept the lay-off.
Telkom and Airtel entered into merger talks early this year and are still going through regulatory approvals. But with restructuring kicking off at Telkom Kenya, it’s all a done deal.
In February, Telkom and Airtel firmed up the discussions by signing a binding agreement to combine their respective mobile, enterprise and carrier services businesses in Kenya to operate under a joint venture company to be named Airtel-Telkom.
Both Telkom and Airtel Kenya have been struggling to stay afloat in a market dominated by Safaricom. Latest data from Communication Authority of Kenya show that while Safaricom saw its net profit for the financial period ending March 2019 increase to Ksh63 billion, Airtel Kenya’s declined.
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