People still wonder why they got laid off.
Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash
When local businesses in Nigeria forecasted for 2020, they did not imagine a major disruption. No one thought an event in the form of a global lockdown will bring their business plans to a standstill and make much more bankrupt. The slew of layoffs that followed has left an aggrieved abruptly unemployed group, still seeking closure.
Nelson (not actual names) was working with a power company in Lagos before he got laid off last week. He has this to say ‘my former employers started finding fault with everything anyone did. They had already laid off 15% of the workforce by the end of April. Earlier this month, I emailed that my teammate was exhibiting COVID19 symptoms and seeking approval to work from another of our field offices.
When I didn't get an acknowledgement, I called my colleague to confirm his health status, he told me he was at work but still feeling crappy, he also suggested I stay away. By the end of that day, I was relieved of my job for insubordination even though I tried to reach them several times before deciding to work from another location’. Nelson is thinking of taking his former employers to court even though he suspects he was just another casualty of the pandemic and the financial ruin it has wrecked on most small businesses. ‘I was a star employee, a model staff’.
His colleague tested positive to covid19 and Nelson feels this should vindicate him. ‘ I reached out to HR begging for my job back, I only did what I did to protect myself, but they insist that the decision to sack me is final’. He thinks they have sacked him even if he did nothing wrong.
Companies in Nigeria are shedding staff like snakes shed their skin and leaving a bewildered workforce. Dike is among those who look at economic meltdowns most simply. ’How is it that businesses do not have savings of up to 6months salary, why do they not have confidence in their ability to survive unscathed?’ He is echoing the sentiments of many other people who think the employers are taking the uncomplicated way out. There has to be a way they can survive without all this sacking.
Muyiwa a security guard whose company decided they didn’t need 4 guards per shift at the warehouse and reduced the number of guards per shift by 1 staff.
To the decision-makers, Muyiwa is just a statistic.
To Muyiwa his life crumbled when he lost a job that paid a paltry $65 a month.
All over the world company executives are making some tough decisions that will determine how their companies survive post-pandemic. Chief financial officers are expecting their companies’ revenue to decline significantly in 2020, no thanks to the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is according to a recent study of PwC Africa released earlier this week.
According to the report, which titled PwC’s COVID-19 CFO Pulse Survey, the African CFOs, who were surveyed showed that the COVID-19 pandemic will affect their business. About 89% of the respondents also believed that their companies’ revenues and profits would decline by 10% and 9%, respectively.
As they manage their process, it will face business leaders with a series of decisions that will have a wide-reaching impact: on their financial future; on the well-being of their employees, customers and other stakeholders; and on the wellbeing of the society at large.”
The PwC report went further to note that the CFOs, who typically favour cost containment strategies, disclosed that their companies are focusing on slashing most of their costs on capital expenditure (82%). Similarly, they are also cutting costs by reducing their workforce (52%) and operations (36%).
Jobs are going away because companies can’t afford them anymore.
Business leaders believe that their companies will bounce back post covid19. In this pivotal time, they have to come up with strategies to stay afloat. The decision to let staff go is never an easy one. But the easiest way to cut cost is to reduce headcount. How do companies noticeably reduce cost without cutting cost, is a complex method? Many argue that laying people off is a lazy way to deal with the crisis.
Globally the pandemic has claimed millions of jobs and almost half are permanent job losses. They are never coming back according to Forbes.
The Revenue Crisis
Ify Nwonu is a fashion entrepreneur who has had to inform her staff of the ‘no work, no salary situation’ I told them that since March, our revenue has dropped by over 80% where am I supposed to get money to pay tailors? I know the employees expect me to pay from income, but that is not an option for now’
Like Ify’s business other micro-business is facing a gradual obliteration, the fragility of the SME landscape is no longer secret ventures that somehow managed before covid19 are now long dead.
Everyone Is Struggling
‘ The other day my boss told me to deliver an order at almost 7 pm knowing full well that curfew starts at 8 pm, I wanted to complain, but when I think of my neighbours and friend that don’t have jobs, I said nothing’. Since the job loss galore, many employees now feel the employers are taking advantage of the situation by imposing impossible work conditions.
Many employers who have had to let staff go are also battling feelings of depression ‘ I have been in business for almost 20 years and this whole pandemic is making me feel like a failure’ Mr Muni runs a printing press business with his sons and had to comply with the lockdown. His major source of revenue is printing invitation cards, posters and printing wedding souvenirs. Since the lockdown, people now resort to using digital tools instead of the local printer.
He has had to tell his staff they can come back when things return to normal. But no one knows when this pandemic will end. So it is safe to say they are now out of job.
The government of Lagos is already working out solutions for small business, but like many other state programs before now, business owners wonder if it would not only benefit those with connections to the State House.
Nigeria already has a youth unemployment problem, nearly a quarter of the population is out of work and 20% is underemployed. For young people aged 15 to 35, the figures are grim: 55.4% of them are without work. With this pandemic, the reality is getting grimmer.
