Employers face difficult days as the political crisis persists. [photo/tbn0.gstatic.com]
As the country strives to navigate out of the current divisive political environment and economic uncertainty, a number of businesses are facing difficult employment-related decisions while trying to guard against liabilities.
For many employers, pay increases and bonuses are no longer an option because to survive the rough terrain, cost-cutting should be the number one priority for many of the organizations affected by the toxic political environment.
Employers are in a fix because withdrawal of contractual perks or reducing pay without buy-in from employees may turn out to be a bad idea because the redundancies, forfeiture of bonuses, and pay and recruitment freezes may damage employees’ morale at a time when their motivation needs to be at the top to get their organisations through difficult times.
During these difficult economic times, some other organizations may even be tempted to slash salaries as one way of maintaining a healthy balance sheet. For instance, in 2015, Canada’s slumping oil industry shed tens of thousands of jobs in Alberta alone.
The country’s largest independent oil producer, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., decided that rather than lay off any of its workforce of 7,600, it would reduce salaries by up to 10 percent in Calgary and Aberdeen, Scotland, with the biggest cuts absorbed by higher-salaried employees.
The crisis has also significantly affected the economy that forced most employers to retrench than hire. While most of the workforce lost their jobs, those that remained experienced longer working hours for the same or slashed salary. The long-term effect of retrenchment will be felt in slow productivity especially as the country tries to recover from the economic pinch.
To add salt to injury, most companies have lost many man-hours in the last eight months since the political campaigns started in March and it is going to be difficult for them to recover the lost time.
Kenya is often marred by violence, tribal affiliation, financial and property loss during electioneering, it is prudent as an employer to take a hands-on approach to establish the emotional well-being of your employees.
[photo/tbn0.gstatic.com]