Africa-Press – Kenya. The Standard Media Group, which houses KTN, KTN News and Standard Newspaper, has resumed payment of full salaries to all staff and correspondents.
The reinstatement came nearly one year after it slashed salaries owing to the economic constraints experienced in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The company acknowledged that the business environment was still facing challenges and that it was still not out of the woods yet.
“Despite the ongoing challenges, the company has decided to resume payment of full salaries. Meanwhile, efforts to achieve savings in other areas of the business will continue and I call of you to offer unwavering support to these initiatives.
“In this regard, therefore, we will resume payment of full salaries effective 1st June 2021 for all staff and correspondents,” reads an internal memo sent to the employees.
The Mombasa-Road-based media firm expressed gratitude to its employees for according it support during the difficult time.
“The journey to recovery is still long, so we need to redouble our efforts to face the challenges ahead, while we remain hopeful that the future will bring good tidings.”
On April 1, 2020, Standard Group highlighted that staff earning Ksh100,000 and above would get a 25 percent reduction while those earning Ksh100,000 and below would have a 20 percent reduction in salaries effective April 1, 2020.
Some of the other employees were also sent on leave in a bid to reduce costs.
The pay cuts not only affected the staff but also the Standard Group board of directors who agreed to reduce their allowances and defer all their payments.
Other media houses that also slashed salaries for their staff include; Royal Media Services and the Nation Media Group.
NMG has since reinstated full staff salaries while Royal Media has revised downwards the percentage of salary reduction.
