The struggling National Bank of Kenya has started a fresh round of restructuring that will see 150 employees sent home this week.
This is the latest among a host of efforts by the lender to stay afloat. NBK says that it has received the approval to offer voluntary early retirement to employees over the age of 35 who have worked for the company for at least five years.
“The process is expected to be concluded in the coming week and successful applicants will be released from the bank’s employment effective 1st February, 2018,” a statement from the bank said.
Employees older than 50 years will get a severance pay equal to two months’ salary for each year they have worked at National Bank.
NBK has been on a streak of diminishing profitability. Its profit after tax having dropped to Sh. 138.1 million in the period to September last year compared to Sh. 521 million reported over a similar period last year.
“We believe the scheme is employee-friendly and is good for the bank too, thus a win-win deal for both parties,” Wilfred Musau, the NBK chief executive, said. He added that the lender had too many employees who were not productive.
As at August 2016, Kenyan banks had 28,009 employees but the firing spree saw the sector’s workforce fall to 26,076 employees by June 2017.