Wildlife Resorts resorts to salary cuts and reduced hours to stay afloat
The government restcamp manager, Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR) announced that it has decided to cut salaries and hours of its employees to safeguard its operations. Over the last 16 months the tourism industry has been challenged resulting in various cost-cutting measures.
In line with the Labour Act, the state-owned enterprise in a ststement said it will be reducing the remuneration and working hours for its employees from job grades A1 – F1 for operational reasons and, for a period not exceeding three months starting in August 2021.
However, only the basic salaries of all employees will be affected.
“This decision was not an easy one to make since we had hoped that our previous measures and a possible uptick in travel during our high season would improve the situation. However, in the current circumstances where cases are rapidly increasing and affecting Namibia as a travel destination, we do not foresee a marked improvement anytime soon. Therefore, the reduction in hours and basic salary is geared towards giving us some leeway to continue operating under these challenging times,” said Dr Matthias Ngwangwama, NWR Managing Director.
Ngwangwama said NWR is continuing to engage the Ministry of Public Enterprise and its key stakeholders to see how they can assist it during this period.
Prior to this decision, NWR embarked on uncharted waters when it cut their Board, Managing Director and Senior Management basic salaries, with the Patterson E-grading, by 25%, in September 2020. At the same time, NWR and the Namibia Public Workers Union agreed on suspending salary increments for 2019/20, suspending normal overtime, Sunday and public holiday payments, and other allowances and benefits from 27 March 2020 up to date.
