Following its recent merger with the former Oceanic Bank International Plc, Ecobank Nigeria Plc has hinted that it has disengaged some workers, while also announcing the promotion of its top 1,000 performing staff.

A statement by the bank on Wednesday stated that the bank also gave a unique opportunity to 600 non-core staff to become permanent employees.

It said, “As the bank continues to acknowledge and reward exceptional performance, it also recognised after careful review, the need to disengage staff and provide severance pay to those affected in agreement with the respective employee unions.”

It quoted the Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Jibril Aku as saying, “Our focus in the new enlarged Ecobank is to ensure a smooth integration of the two banks as soon as possible while working to improve the quality of service to our customers and our operational efficiency.

“We understand that people are our key asset, so we have emphasised the need to reward our best performers, and open up new opportunities for talented, committed people to join us as permanent employees. At the same time, we are taking steps to ensure that all disengaged staff are treated fairly and in line with industry practice.”

Access Bank recently terminated the employment of over 1, 500 staff of Intercontinental Bank.

Unofficial sources had told our correspondent that the basis of the massive sack was the new appraisal system which Access Bank introduced in Intercontinental on November 8, 2011, termed, ‘Operation Just Cause’.

Enterprise Bank Limited, on Tuesday, has gave 140 of its employees, whose performance had fallen below the satisfactory level, an option to resign.

A statement from the bank signed by its Head, Corporate Communication, Olusola Longe-Okenimkpe, said those who embraced the resignation option would be fully paid their entitlements.

She said the workers of the bank had accepted the recently introduced performance-based-compensation system, which made it possible for hardworking and outstanding employees to earn more money than their pay at the end of every month.

Source: Punch/Ademola Alawiye