Standard Media is set to lay off staff in what is billed to be its biggest restructuring in recent times. This will be a culmination of a review by audit firm Deloitte, which found the company is shouldering too many employees than it can afford.
The changes are expected to cut through the ranks at the Standard newspaper, KTN and Radio Maisha, and some managing editors and senior managers will be sent packing for non-performance.
Tension is high at the Standard Group offices at Mombasa Road and the I&M newsroom as rumours about the restructuring fly around. A credible source says the main culprits will be highly paid journalists who were headhunted from other media houses over the past few years to bolster the newspaper and TV fortunes.
The management met last week and agreed to make painful changes and leave a lean company that can turn good profit – and the board has endorsed the decision.
What is holding the announcement is the absence of Standard Managing Editor Kipkoech Tanui, who is on s**k leave and human resources director Mrs Pauline Kiraithe, who is on maternity leave.
“She may have to be recalled to do the dirty job,” said a senior editor, who is also not sure about his job.
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This will put Managing Director Sam Shollei on the spotlight again. His high-profile poaching from Nation and other media houses has come a cropper. Standard newspaper has not grown fast enough to sustain its many journalists, while KTN still struggles to attract advertising. Standard newspaper remains a distant second from Nation, with sources saying circulation for the weekend editions have been falling.
Radio Maisha is said to be over-staffed and could see most of its staff relieved of their duties.
The Shollei “Dream Team”, which is largely made up of former Nation Media Group employees, took over the reins late 2012 with a promise to increase revenue, check wastages and head-hunt the best in the market.
Mrs Kiraithe lured NMG staff with offers like double or even triple salaries, but the financial health of the oldest media house in Kenya has not improved enough to sustain the wage bill.
The Kenya Union of Journalists, whose chairman is Standard Group senior reporter Oscar Obonyo, is bracing for battle with the company, as journalists bet on pressure from the union to either stop sacking or negotiate for better leaving terms.
