MultiChoice Group, owners of DSTV and GOTV is planning to lay off close to 2,200 workers in a shake-up of its customer care service, the company has said.
The axing will affect workers in South Africa.
MultiChoice, which competes with Netflix in online streaming via Showmax, said in a statement it is launching a consultation process to cut 2,194 positions in MultiChoice South Africa’s customer care call centres and walk-in centres.
“This has not been an easy decision to make but, in a business driven by advancing technologies, we must continue to drive efficiencies yet be agile enough to adapt to evolving customer needs,” MultiChoice Group Chief Executive Calvo Mawela said.
“We must act decisively to align to the change in customer behaviour and competition from over-the-top services,” he added, referring to video services that stream directly over the internet.
“If we don’t reposition now, we run the risk of being completely misaligned and we put everyone’s jobs at risk.”
Under the Labour Relations Act, the consultation process will take 60 days. Over the past three years, MultiChoice has seen a steady decline in the number of customer telephone calls and e-mails into its call centres and walk-ins to its customer service centres, the company said.
In contrast, self-service digital channels have continued to grow, now accounting for 70 percent of all its customer service contacts.
“The company is also in an environment where it will rely more on technology than people,” it said.
Job cuts are politically sensitive in South Africa, where the unemployment rate is more than 27 percent.
In his state of the nation address last Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa called the unemployment rate among the youth a “national crisis” that demands urgent, innovative and coordinated solutions.
MultiChoice said it will make new roles available for multi-skilled workers with the “expertise, skills and technological prowess to enhance the customer experience”.
As part of a support program agreed with unions and other employee representatives, the firm will offer voluntary severance packages, wellness support and financial planning, it said.
It will also continue paying for the current studies of MultiChoice bursary-funded employees, and some other benefits.
However the Information Communication and Technology Union (ICTU) said in a statement it had not been officially informed of the action, “which makes the process unlawful”.
“The employer has timed Friday to make announcement, which shows some cowardice tendencies of not dealing with the consequences of their actions,” it said, adding that it will seek an urgent engagement with MultiChoice.
Shares in the company closed nearly 2% stronger at 134 rand prior to the announcement.
Expect 100% hike in drug prices, PSN tells Nigerians
The Lagos State branch of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has warned that there will soon be at least 100 per cent increase in drug prices across the country.
The Chairman of PSN in the state, Mrs Bolanle Adeniran, who spoke at an event organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industries, said the price increase might take effect in about six months from now if the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control does not reverse the 350 per cent levy it imposed on drug and product registration in the country.
She said NAFDAC also needed to eliminate the delay associated with registration of drugs and related products, adding that the registration could take over two years in bizarre instances.
According to a statement by the PSN at the weekend, Adeniran said the Director-General, NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, had carried out various landmark reforms in the sector, including ISO Certification of laboratory facilities, reducing the sector’s political exposure and subjecting NAFDAC to the World Health Organisation global benchmark.
The statement quoted her as saying, “While the industry was grappling with challenges of delays, NAFDAC made the most damaging move in the last couple of weeks by increasing drug and product registration levy by a whopping 350 per cent.
“Specifically, from N350, 000, it now costs N1.05m to register a prescription-only medicine, while over-the-counter drugs have moved from a hitherto expensive N1m to N4m in Nigeria.
“The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Lagos State Branch, has analysed NAFDAC’s 350 per cent increase and we respectfully declare that there is absolutely no basis for such, whether in terms of improvement in the economic fortunes in our industry or a propensity for drastic improvement in service, like in terms of the ease of doing health care business in Nigeria.
“If this draconian policy is not reversed or immediately remedied, the PSN, Lagos State Branch, wishes to warn through this forum that Nigeria will experience at least a 100 per cent increase in drug prices in about six months, with grave consequences of morbidity and mortality to consumers of health in our nation.
“As a matter of fact, it will incentivise fake drug dealers who will bring in their deadly merchandise at cheaper rates relative to expensive registered products.”