Family Bank Fires Several Employees, Blames Digitization

Family Bank has sent an unknown number of employees home after declaring their positions redundant due to ‘digitization’.

In letters seen by Business Times, the Bank’s Head of Human Resources Mr Elijah Kariuki told those affected that there had been change of operating environment leading to automation of processes.

The employees on Friday were told to look out for any roles of their interest that may be advertised through internal job adverts, and apply for such.

“The Bank has decided to undertake a restructuring exercise guided by a review of its operational model ad the need to drive efficiency. Changes have taken place in the operating environment leading to automation of processes to support the global trends and demand for digital products and services,” he said.

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“As a result of the above measures and the ensuing reorganization your current job has been declared redundant and thereby this serves as notice of 30 days within which the bank will endeavor to redeploy you in available positions that suit your skills and experience in other sections of the bank, within the next thirty days. You are encouraged to look out for any roles of your interest that may be advertised through internal job adverts,” added Kariuki.

However, today, on Monday May 18, the bank wrote to unknown number of employees terminating their contracts with immediate effect.

“We write to advise that the bank has decided to end the contract on 18th May 2020,” read the letters of disappointment.

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In all the letters seen by Business Times, the bank did not mention the adverse effects of Covid-19 to the economy as one of the reasons for retrenchment.

In fact, the bank has been on an upward trajectory in terms of growth for its profits. In the year ended December 31, 2019, the lender recorded a net profit of Ksh949.8 million, a growth of 288 per cent from the Ksh244.2 million recorded in 2018.

The bank said the growth was supported by aggressive drive for the SME, retail, private and public sector markets. The loan book grew by 14.7 per cent in 2019, standing at Ksh50.6 billion from Ksh44.1 billion in 2018.

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