Putting The Welfare Of Employees First In Airtel-Telkom Merger

They say people create businesses, then businesses mold and create people. Strong businesses are built and founded on a strong foundation of people. Without people, there is no business of having a business.

There is no business that operates in a vacuum. Business are founded to solve problems either through products or services. There is no business that is ever set up just to exist without serving the people.

Ever heard the long antiquated saying that “the customer is king” or “the customer is always right”? These tow saying has pushed many businesses to just focus on their customers and they end making mistakes and messing up their businesses.

As much as focusing on a customer is key, many businesses forget one thing; the employee. An employee is a key element in making sure that a business succeeds. They say that treat your employees well and they will treat your customers well.

However, for those who do business, especially in Kenya, will tell you that in this journey of struggling to make businesses work, it reaches a time one has to make tough decisions through restructuring and letting some of your key elements go.

When a business restructures, you cannot deny that sometimes the process is noisy and accompanied by casualties. In most cases when businesses restructure, those who feel the heat are employees because some are often dropped at some point.

Restructuring in businesses, especially corporates, may happen through a merger. This is where two or more businesses (corporates) that have similar products or services come together to work as one for the common good of satisfying the customer.

Mergers are gaining momentum in Kenya because it is being viewed as the only way businesses can form a strong front to counter market forces and remain afloat. When mergers happen, jobs are affected in two ways; new ones are either created or some are declared redundant.

The truth is when businesses merge, some roles are duplicated hence the need to shed off some of them. Most businesses often create a fair playing ground by telling their employees to reapply and be considered for various positions.

In the event that a business is entering into a merger with another business, and is aware that in the process some roles will be declared redundant, the business is required by law to inform the employees set to be affected beforehand.

Read More Here: What the Airtel-Telkom Merger Has To Do To Catch Up With Safaricom

There has been a lot of talk about the merger between Airtel and Telkom Kenya. In the real sense, the merger is a plus to Kenya’s telecommunications sector. First, it is going to water down and finally finish the long belief of “dominance” where one player takes and controls all. Secondly, it is going to create the second-largest force, giving Kenyans the freedom to choose whatever service provider they want.

The merger between Airtel and Telkom is also going to strengthen the service and product provided to customers. This means that customer are not only going to enjoy affordable service but strong and reliable too. The talk has not been about the services though. It has been about the welfare of employees.

There is a lot of misunderstanding that there are plans to let hundreds of employees go with the merger. But as Telkom Kenya puts it, “the intended process, is beyond reproach, above board, informed by the laws of the land (Kenya) and most importantly, anchored in humanity – seeking to realize the least possible, negative and disruptive impact on our employees.”

A caring business cannot just send home employees without first informing them as it is required by law. The law sets this condition of informing the affected parties ahead of time to allow them to prepare either for a transition or look for another job.

“Telkom employees were notified of the intention of the combined entity and its outsourced partners, to offer employment to a majority of them who would be declared redundant.

This remains subject to the impacted staff meeting the combined entity’s recruitment criteria for the available positions. To create a stronger version of the two entities, which can evolve into a strong second-telco player in the market, requires the very best of our resources,” says the Chief Resource Officer at Telkom Kenya.

What many are failing to see is that the employees who will be affected have been given a lifeline by applying for similar positions in the new entity.

Read More Here: Telkom Redundant Employees To Be Re-Interviewed After The Merger

Think of Airtel-Telkom as a perfect marriage. In this marriage, the couple has come together each with their own possessions. As they come together, they also bring together their possessions. What happens? They now have more possessions that each one of them had.

As they settle in this solemn marriage, the two, Airtel-Telkom start working to grow their possessions together (on top of what they already have) and this includes expanding their network coverage, putting up workable and reliable infrastructure and addressing issues from customers in real-time.

So, will the Airtel-Telkom merger enhance the quality of service to their customers? Why not? Absolutely. The fact that they have come together, means that they are stronger to front a strong competition to any player unlike when they were on their own.

The merger has strengthened the spectrum of Airtel-Telkom. With a widened spectrum, Airtel-Telkom now has room to expand its services and network coverage for better services to customers. This also implies that voice calls, as well as internet data, are going to improve in quality as a result of enough infrastructure.

Airtel-Telkom has already stated that their reason for coming together is for them to offer better and quality services to the customer. The marriage is, therefore, already constructed on the foundation of giving the customer the best of services in terms of data bundles, affordable voice calls and sending of SMS.

Read More Here: Will The Airtel-Telkom Merger Enhance Quality Of Service?