*UBA PLC Says It Carried out Corporate Right Sizing Policy not to Cut Cost

The first week of the New Year 2020 was not the best for many in the Banking Sector as retrenchment hit thousand Bankers.

Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th January, 2020 were not good days for employees of first generation Bank, United Bank for Africa which is christened “Africa’s Global Bank” as over 3,000 employees of the Bank cutting across the operations, Marketing, Internal Audit Department and Audit were retrenched.

The retrenchment came with rude shock as even those spared were left wondering their fate after their close colleagues lost their jobs.

People affected in the exercise are largely staff who have spent between 10 to 13 years in the service of the bank.

Regional Operations Managers were instructed to inform the affected staff members about the rightsizing exercise and the resignation option.

Perhaps to forestall the possibility of a paper trail, the source said the information was passed orally.

Bank Explains Stance

Mr Ramon, in an interview on Monday, said there was no lay-off in the bank.

He added that the information being pushed out by some of the affected staff is largely “untrue”.

“There was no lay-off in the bank but people were advised to resign based on our right-sizing policy. The bank concluded its appraisals in December. Every year, we do two appraisals in UBA; one in June and one in December. After the second appraisal, the management of the bank takes the decision. In this year, decisions that were taken include that 5,000 staff will be promoted and 5,000 staff was promoted on Friday,” he said.

“Another decision that was taken is that UBA has transformed its grading system and processes to become one of the most competitive within the industry. The bank crashed its grade levels to 12 levels from entry-level to the top of the pyramid where previously it had been 16 levels. This means that staff will now find it much easier to attain top leadership management positions at UBA as their careers progress much faster. Also, In a massive recruitment drive, over 4000 new staff members resumed in the last week of December 2019 in Nigeria alone at the bank. UBA currently stands as the highest employer of labour amongst Nigerian banks with a staff strength of close to 20,000.

“Now, in any normal appraisal process, people who have performed exceptionally well are rewarded. Over 5,000 staff of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, started the new year with a lot of cheer as the bank promoted them to new grades as well as salary upgrades with immediate effect this January. Beneficiaries of this exercise will receive up to 170% increase in their salaries and benefits, whilst a good number have been moved to higher grade levels.

“Those who have been advised to resign have been given handsome benefits far beyond what the policy dictates.”

Mr Ramon explained further that, in essence, what the bank has done is to simply realign its workforce by embarking on downsizing. He explained that the bank recruited staff but those the system considered to have under-performed were asked to go.

On allegations that the affected staff could not access their portal, he said they could not access their portal because the process is still ongoing, adding that their full emoluments would be paid.

“It’s like that anywhere in the world,” he said. “If you are advised to leave the bank, some of the job’s basic access will be withdrawn.”

He also said that the basic remuneration details have been communicated to the affected staff by Monday afternoon, while those promoted have also been informed.

On reports that the action was directed at contract staff, Mr Ramon argued that there are no contract staff in UBA, except the people in charge of logistics, drivers and security personnel.

“We don’t have contract staff in UBA,” he said. “The only contract staff we have in UBA are drivers and securities. In UBA, there is nothing called contract staff.”

He explained that since the bank is not a logistics firm, issues of logistics, driving and security, are handled by another firm other than the bank. One of the affected staff confirmed to this newspaper that there are no contract staff in the bank, although he could not confirm the status of the newly recruited staff members.

Policy not for cost-cutting

Mr Ramon also explained that the right-sizing policy was not borne out of the decision to cut cost, as is often done in corporate decision-making situations.

Mr Ramon also said that because the process is ongoing, he would not be able to give the exact number of people affected by the right-sizing decision. According to him, some staff members may choose not to accept the option of resignation.

However, the process will be completed very soon, he added.

“5,000 peoples’ lives have been affected by the promotion, 4, 000 peoples’ lives have been affected by series of engagement both new hires and experienced hires, thousands of people’s lives have been affected based on the fact that grade structure have been reduced from 16 to 12. Enough of possible impacts have happened on those who have received an increase in their salaries. So, that is the essence of the exercise,” he argued.

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Retrenchment Tsunami Hits UBA PLC as Over 3,000 Employees Lose Jobs