Stanbic Bank is planning to lay off 255 employees in a move the company says is aimed at reducing cost.
Capital Business, reported seeing a memo in which the company has offered permanent and pensionable employees a voluntary early retirement package, which they are at liberty to accept or decline.
According to sources from the company who requested anonymity, the employees have until Friday to give feedback on the handshake offered by the bank.
“We have been given until Friday to make up our minds to sign up for the scheme but the majority of us are not pleased with this since we will still be jobless and some of us have been here for over 15 years,” she said adding that the bank had planned to fire all the employees without offering any benefit plans.
Under the package, employees will still receive their monthly salary to the last day of work.
The Bank has also offered ex-gratia payment calculated at the rate of 1.5 month’s salary for each completed year of service in recognition of the service rendered to the Bank by the employee.
It also includes payment in lieu of notice as per the individual employment contract, retention on the medical scheme for the remainder of the calendar year up to 31st December 2019 and 25% loan discount on the immediate settlement of any outstanding staff loan balance.
The layoffs come even as the bank posted a 14.38 percent jump in net profit in the half year ended June, boosted by higher interest and non interest income.
Stanbic made a net profit of Sh4 billion in the period, compared to Sh3.5 billion in the same period last year.