For about 148 junior, middle level and senior staff of Fidelity Bank Plc, it was a black Valentine’s Day, as they were asked to resign apparently to stave off termination of appointment.
Our correspondent learnt that those affected arrived their offices as usual on Friday, February 13, the day before Valentine’s to discover they had been denied access to the bank’s main server.
Those already affected in the exercise which is said to still be ongoing, include 139 junior staff of the rank of managers and below and nine others between the positions of Senior Manager and Deputy General Manager.
One of those affected told our correspondent on phone under condition of anonymity that there was “no defined criteria for the sack as people were just yanked off the (bank’s) internet system and on contacting the Human Resources Department, they were told to turn in their resignation.”
When contacted on Monday morning, the bank said the decision was the outcome of a bank-wide performance appraisal, a claim the source insisted “is not true.”
A statement by Fidelity Bank on Tuesday evening, however announced the elevation of 963 employees following “the 2014 annual staff performance appraisal which ended last week.”
The statement said the promotion is part of efforts to reward and motivate “hard-working, committed and efficient staff members for higher productivity.”
The statement quoted the bank’s Managing Director and Chief Executive, Nnamdi Okonkwo, as saying the promotion exercise was in line with its avowed commitment to reward excellence and exceptional individual performance.
Specifically, he said: “In line with our commitment to ensuring people happiness and rewarding good performance, the names of our colleagues who qualified for promotion under the earlier advised criteria have now been released.”
According to him, “Fidelity maintains high professional culture, where exceptional performance, innovativeness and hard work are recognised and rewarded. He pointed out that the employees who were promoted and rewarded were selected through an enhanced performance management system.
The promotion exercise, the statement added, is significant as it is coming at a time when there are challenges in the business environment given the blip in the economy as a result of the drop in the global prices of crude oil.
Okonkwo stressed that “despite the expectations that this financial year will be tougher than last year, our bank took the unprecedented step of elevating a total of 963 people.”
While congratulating the beneficiaries, he challenged all workers of the bank to redouble their efforts towards achieving a better financial result this year, just as he reminded them that “our aim is to remain an employer of choice, and to achieve this we have to continuously motivate our people”.(culled)
The statement quoted the bank’s Managing Director and Chief Executive, Nnamdi Okonkwo, as saying the promotion exercise was in line with its avowed commitment to reward excellence and exceptional individual performance.
Specifically, he said: “In line with our commitment to ensuring people happiness and rewarding good performance, the names of our colleagues who qualified for promotion under the earlier advised criteria have now been released.”
According to him, “Fidelity maintains high professional culture, where exceptional performance, innovativeness and hard work are recognised and rewarded. He pointed out that the employees who were promoted and rewarded were selected through an enhanced performance management system.
The promotion exercise, the statement added, is significant as it is coming at a time when there are challenges in the business environment given the blip in the economy as a result of the drop in the global prices of crude oil.
Okonkwo stressed that “despite the expectations that this financial year will be tougher than last year, our bank took the unprecedented step of elevating a total of 963 people.”
While congratulating the beneficiaries, he challenged all workers of the bank to redouble their efforts towards achieving a better financial result this year, just as he reminded them that “our aim is to remain an employer of choice, and to achieve this we have to continuously motivate our people”.(culled)
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