BY ALFRED SASAKO
SOLOMON Telekom Company Ltd (STCL), the nation’s top telco carrier, has embarked on a massive redundancy exercise, with up to 120 staff across the board being laid off.
Chief Executive Officer, Loyley Ngira, declined discussing details of the redundancy exercise, when Island Sun contacted him yesterday.
However, an internal Memo to staff on the matter had been leaked to Island Sun. In it, Mr Ngira, said a 28-day redundancy notice has been issued to staff, effective from June 18, 2018,
“It’s an internal matter. We have not issued a press statement on this. For now, I would not be making any other comments,” Mr Ngira said.
Internal or not, the proposed redundancy exercise appears to be the first tangible evidence of a downturn in the economy. Others statutory bodies may follow.
In the Memo titled, Message from Loyley Ngira, Chief Executive Officer, Our Telekom, the management said the redundancy came as a result of an internal “organisational review conducted by Solomon Telekom Company Ltd”. It was approved by the Board, the Memo said.
“… a 28-days’ redundancy notice has been issued individually to all staff as of 18th June,” it said.
“During this period, STCL will be enforcing the following process to manage the last stages of the organisation review exercise as explained during staff presentations.
“This is to ensure staff have an opportunity to continue their employment with the company before exiting through Redundancy,” the Memo, dated June 20, said.
“STCL may directly support you to a role under new employment terms and conditions during the 28-day notice. Should you decline the offer you may be offered a new role within the new organisational structure.
“Should you decline both offers during the 28-day period, you will be paid a redundancy payment and your employment with the company will be terminated,” the Memo said.
“If your current role has been made redundant, STCL will try to deploy you to other jobs within STCL that match your experience and skills. If during the 28-day period STCL has not found a new role for your or you decline the redeployment offer, you will then be paid a redundancy payment and your employment with the company will be terminated.”
Ngira acknowledged the magnitude of the exercise, saying it is not an easy challenge for all.
However, he said “the objective is to have a workforce that will take Our Telekom into the future and to be competitive and to ensure that Our Telekom continues to be successful in the face of growing stiff competition.”
He appealed for staff support.
“In spite of the uncertainties as we go through the implementation of the reorganisation, I seek your full support to continue to support our customers in the best possible manner,” the Memo said.
Solomon Telekom Company Limited (Our Telekom) is a joint venture company between the Solomon Islands National Provident Fund, (SINPF) which holds 97.32 percent of the shares, and the government’s business arm, the Investment Corporation of the Solomon Islands (ICSI) which owns 2.68 percent of the shares.
It has a Board of directors comprising,
Adrian Wickham
Chairman
George Kuper
Director
Jerry Tegemoana
Director
Harry Kuma
Director
Kunal Nandan
Director
Bernadine Manuia
Board Secretary
