The Group Managing Director of Access Bank Plc has hinted that the financial institution would be engaging in mass retrenchment as seventy-five per cent of the bank staff strength is no longer needed.
Mr. Herbert Wigwe said the planned mass retrenchment of its workforce is due to the outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown.
Wigwe, who spoke via video conferencing in a town hall meeting with the bank’s staff, expressed his regret. He said those to be affected by the mass retrenchment are 75% of the bank’s staff, most of whom are outsourced and are offering “non-essential services”.
Wigwe said: “We probably don’t need as many security men as required, even to the fact that we are not gonna have all our branches open between now and December. We don’t need all the tea girls. We don’t need all the cleaners. We don’t need all the tellers etcetera, etcetera. 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 rationalize to the level that we think will be necessary to basically sustain a mean but actually a customer service oriented institution.”