Staff Writer
Namibia Wildlife Resorts Limited (NWR) has announced that it has begun a voluntary separation exercise to align its staff numbers in light of the impact that Covid-19 has had on the tourism sector.
This comes as the company has already informed employees of the exercise which begun on the 22 September 2020 up until 22 October 2020, with an opportunity to separate from the organisation voluntarily.
On the table is two week’s salary for every year of uninterrupted service as a severance pay-out, any leave balances as at 30 September 2020, subject to a maximum of 60 days will be paid-out, any accrued leave days above 60 days will be paid at 50 percent or half of the excess days, any employee entitled to an annual birthday bonus, a proportion equal to the months since the last bonus will be paid out, one month’s salary in lieu of notice, total Pension Fund credit in line with the Pension / Provident Fund Rules / Laws and transport to the place of normal residence (within the borders of Namibia) for them and their belongings.
The move by the government owned tourism company is part of its cost cutting measures, which has also seen its Board of Directors and senior management team, taking a 25 percent salary cut.
“However, these efforts alone have not been sufficient to place the organisation in a better financial position. Therefore the NWR EXCO submitted a cost-cutting plan to its Board of which they approved. One of the measures in the plan was voluntary separation with the view of ensuring the sustainability of the organization,” NWR CEO Dr Matthias Ngwangwama said.
“Based on worldwide experiences, we are aware that it would be difficult for us to have the same staff profile pre-Covid. Most companies around the world have begun following the same trend to find ways of reducing their wage bill and other operational costs.”
