The impact of retrenchment/redundancy on employees that remain in employment: a case study of Kenya Breweries Limited

Abstract

Retrenchment today has become a household name in many organizations as Companies strive to minimize costs and maximize profits. The loss of a job can be devastating to an individual especially if it is not voluntary. It has been established that retrenchment leaves a lot of job insecurity to the remaining staff, bringing their morale down, as they do not know about their fate in future. In Kenya, before the 1980's, early retirement was mostly voluntary and was useful to those who wished to leave employment after working for many years while they were still strong. In other cases, deteriorating health conditions would force one to take early retirement option. This study was aimed at establishing the impact of retrenchment to employees that remain in employment. The objectives of the study included: 1.To determine whether there is a retrenchment policy that exists in Kenya Breweries Limited and whether it's adequate. 11. To find out the perceptions of KBL staff towards the retrenchment process. Ill. To find out the impact of the on-going retrenchment on remaining employees' morale at KBL. IV. To recommend appropriate changes to the current retrenchment exercise to ensure retrenchment exercises are more successful. The study was focused on Kenya Breweries Limited where questionnaires were administered to the selected sample population to assist in data collection. The general findings were that employees were not well informed about the retrenchment exercise. It is also observed that there are no proper communication channels from top management to employees. It was also found that the staff who remained suffered survivor syndrome wondering what the future holds for them. A lot of work was left for the remaining staff forcing them to be multi skilled to enable them perform tasks they could not do before. It was also noted that the performance of employees was affected and a large number of the remaining staff feel insecure in their current job.