K24 has had one of the ugliest retrenchment drives Kenya has witnessed in the recent past. Their retrenchment drive left a bad taste in the greater majority’s mouths and collective conscious.
K24 TV reportedly lays off last-standing news journalist (Details)
You see, K24 first instructed their previous staff to accept a fifty per cent pay cut. Afew of their employees, I really should highlight the term former, moved to court to fight the retroactive nature the move was to be done in. And they won.
The media house owned and run by Mediamax then went on to simply retrench everyone who had refused to agree with the managerial decision (or should I say board decision?) and they completely cleaned house leaving just a handful of reporters and journalists who were subsequently fired anyway.
Fired K24 TV couple re-emerge with own media company (Photo)
That then brings us to the question of whether or not the new staff they have poached will be loyal enough to see the company achieve it’s longterm targets and there is a huge question mark hanging over this particular section of operations.
Anyway, what K24 did is a learning curve for media practitioners because it completely exposes not just media houses and employers in general but the attitudes and thought patterns media practitioners have.
Mwanaisha Chidzuga’s message to her former K24 colleagues is sound advice
When you look at members of NTV and KTN, if you look at journalists at Radio Africa and KBC, most of them would go to bat for their employers. They genuinely see it as a personal offense when netizens call out their employers online. This is actually madness. The best approach to working with employers is to let the reality that it is a simple business interaction.
That means that when you look at how things from that perspective, then journalists begin to gain an appreciation for how things work within that relationship. You basically go in, do your job, do it well and leave. You also basically shop your skills around looking for the next best employer for your service. Do no stay for more than 5 years within the same position. Keep improving and shopping your skills around.
K24 unveils new faces taking over the newsroom after firing its entire old team (Video)
K24 showed us that comfort is one of the worst things that can belie a business transaction of employment nature. You have to wake up to the realization that when the employer decides your services are no longer needed, the switch is clinical and devoid of emotions.
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