Eveready Massive Job Loss, “Being Laid Off Is The Worst Experience Ever.”

By Jane Okoth,
With  tough economic times,  many employers are left with a difficult decision to lay off some of the employees if the company is struggling financially.

It is frightening to survive without a paycheck and once you are laid off, compensation and your means of survival will be your next worry.

Just this week, Eveready East Africa announced that it’s closing  down its manufacturing plant in Nakuru from October 1, 2014 owing to competition from cheap imports from the East.

According to the firm’s managing director Jackson Mutua, the company plans to outsource from their partners in Egypt.

This decision will see about 100 employees losing their jobs as the company plans to set aside ksh 110 million to compensate them.

What next after you happen to be one of the unlucky ones?

“I am still unemployed because bouncing back at the job market is a really big challenge for me,” says Joshua Wamalwa, a former employee at Mumias Sugar Company.

“My former company cited lack of enough funds and continued losses and that it was restructuring. At that time I was 30 years old and I am now 35 so I don’t stand a chance of seeking employment.”

Was he rightfully compensated after he and his colleagues were laid off?

“We were each given a golden handshake of 350,000 each to start us off but I cannot prove where the money is.

At the time when we lost our jobs, I was straining financially so part of the money went to repay loans and I was left with little which I started in the fruit business.

Being laid off is the worst experience ever,” he reiterates. “I would never want anyone to undergo the same experience.

It does not matter whether you are compensated because once you do not manage your finances well, you are doomed.” He concludes.

Martha Mwihaki, a former employee at Kenya Airways thinks that “it is just the same as being fired. I got laid off 2 years ago. I knew that it was not my fault or my Employer’s but it really had a negative effect on me,” ,she recalls.

“I would shun myself from friends and relatives and kept blaming myself constantly wondering how I was going to survive. Even the compensation is not any consolation because you will continuously feel down all the time.” She says.

I have since decided to venture into the family business and focus more on building my career. I think employers should first sensitive workers and prepare them psychologically through counseling before laying them off.” She opines.

“The experience is just too hard for anyone to bear,” she concludes.

Are you a victim of a sudden lay off and how are you coping with it so far?

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