One day after Mediamax showed almost 50 employees the door, Royalmedia on Tuesday sent a number of its employees home, trimming numbers in order to stay afloat.
Business Today has learnt that the company has issued a number of employees working in the radio department with redundancy letters while more letters covering various departments believed to be in the pipeline.
According to sources, Radio Citizen presenters Syombua Osiany, John Maloba, Himenigilder Mugeni are among the employees who will be retrenched.
Popular Hot 96 FM Presenter Nancy Wanjiku Karanja AKA Shix Kapienga is also set to be sent home. Kapienga hosted Drop Zone on Hot 96 FM Monday to Thursday from 7 pm to 10 pm.
It is expected that the media stable will sack more media personalities and journalists in the coming weeks.
Although Royalmedia has once in a while aligned its personnel, when it comes to retrenchment, the SK Macharia owned media house is most remembered for a 2016 massive layoff that claimed the jobs of 100 journalists.
RMS is the holding company for Citizen TV, Inooro TV and a flurry of vernacular radio stations.
Despite being the market leader in the broadcast business, RMS just like all other players in the industry has also been affected by the pandemic and is expected to announce futher measures to remain sustainable if the situation does not abate.
In March, Managing Director Wachira Waruru announced up to 30 percent salary cuts as part of the company’s efforts to stay afloat that saw the salaries of popular presenters including Jeff Koinange earn less than they normally do.
“The unprecedented outbreak of the coronavirus in the world and Kenya, in particular, has had serious repercussions on businesses, including ours. This reality necessitates that we take difficult but necessary measures to see us through this period, ” said Waruru in a memo to all staff.
“Each staff will be issued with their individual letter through their supervisor. This reduction is temporary and will be reversed when things return to normal.”
Industry in Shambles
On Monday, Mediamax shocked the media industry and Kenyans at large after sacking almost 50 employees through SMS.
Workers unlucky enough to be on the Mediamax to-go list were notified of their fates through an SMS on Sunday night by various human resources managers, ruining the weekend for the men and women who have been playing a part in running the company.
In one message, human resources manager Maureen Wandera was the bearer of the bad news. “I am contacting you with regards to the redundancy notice issued on 21st of May 2020,” Ms Wandera writes in one of the texts reviewed by Business Today.
“The notice period has expired. Unfortunately your position has been affected by way of redundancy. I would like to invite you to Emory Hotel in Kileleshwa tomorrow, Monday 22nd at 8:55am to discuss what this means to your employment. When you get to the hotel kindly ask for me. We thank you for your indulgence and cooperation in this matter.”
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