Herbert Wigwe, chief executive officer of Access Bank, says he is willing to take a 40% pay cut as part of efforts to cut operating costs.
In a video that has now gone viral on social media, Wigwe
empathised with staff saying “everybody may have to make some adjustments of
some sort”.
“We probably don’t need as many security men as required,
even to the fact that we are not going to have all our branches open between
now and December,” he said.
“We certainly don’t need all the security men. We don’t need
all the tea girls. We don’t all the cleaners. We don’t need all the tellers et
cetera et cetera
“So that number of staff which represent 75% of our staff
strength, I think, is the one we basically need to speak with their employers
with a view to getting them to rationalise to the level that we think will be
necessary to basically sustain a mean but actually a customer service-oriented
institution.”
Wigwe said discussions are already ongoing with recruiting
agencies and contracting firms on how to cut back on the workforce.
“The second has to do with our professional cost. Now that
is one is very tricky and it is tricky because I do understand and appreciate
that it is going to bring its own pain to staff. We basically have to make the
adjustment the same way it sounded when we spoke ten days ago with respect to
basically cutting down cost
“would be the first to take the hit and I’m going to take
the largest pay cut, which would be as much as forty per cent (40%).
“The rest, we shall have to cascade right through the
institution.”
Assuring that the bank will revert to what is normal when
things improve, Wigwe said the adjustments are necessary to survive the
difficult times.
“What is important is that these adjustments are what is
required at a time when we see Armageddon when we see great difficulty coming
in, to make sure that if there is one institution left standing in this country
as a bank, it must be Access Bank,” he said.
“We appreciate the fact that it is going to hurt people but
we necessarily have to take that adjustment to ensure that we protect our
franchise and make us stronger as we move into the future.”
Some aviation companies have also announced salary cuts in
response to the COVID-19 pandemic that has grounded activities.
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