KCB Group saw 362 of its employees accept the voluntary early retirement offer last year after the bank opened the programme at the request of its employees.
Most of the voluntary exits were in the Kenyan operations, where 211 employees accepted the offer, including 100 employees at the bank’s subsidiary National Bank of Kenya.
The Rwanda unit saw 48 staff agree to the deal, while three more staff signed the voluntary exit package in Tanzania.
KCB Group CEO Paul Rousseau said the bank has periodically opened the door to voluntary early retirement (VER) exit in response to requests from some of its employees.
“A lot of times, employees ask drivers to leave, which is why it’s called ‘voluntary.’ You may not have a plan to let people off, but as you interact with your employees, they tell you that they cut this trip short and the bus needs to stop here so they can get off,” he said.
“Then they ask us to come up with a plan that works for them. One of the things we do at KCB is take a step back every two years and ask ourselves if we need to open the program again.”
However, Mr. Russo notes that employees interested in the program have not always been receptive to it, citing changes in employee circumstances.
For example, KCB budgeted 400 employees to undertake VER training last year, but saw fewer participants.
“Employees will always ask for VER, but when we open it, the uptake is less than 50 percent because they probably wanted to get the push and start a project, but that perspective is changing.”
However, the number of new hires at KCB Group outpaced the number of VER exits, with the lender adding 1,751 new jobs last year. This took its total headcount to 12,221, resulting in a net workforce growth of 1,123.
People under 30 filled the bulk of new jobs, at 1,305, while those aged 30 to 50 accounted for 443. Only three employees over 50 joined the workforce in 2023.
Of the group’s seven subsidiaries, KCB Kenya added the largest number of employees.
The lender noted that the group’s hiring is driven by key factors, including investment in technology, new business lines or expansion into new markets.
For example, KCB’s entry into the Democratic Republic of Congo through the acquisition of Trust Merchant Bank (TMB) has increased the group’s headcount.
“From time to time, the executive team and the board of directors meet to discuss and review the staffing level, which is primarily based on three main areas. Firstly, the gains and values from technology investments, new business areas and new companies such as TMB, and thirdly, voluntary early retirement,” Mr. Russo said.
By the end of the six months to June, KCB had 566 branches, 38 million customers, 1,306 ATMs and 28,467 agencies. The bank posted an 87% jump in net profit to Sh29.1 billion in the first half of the year to June, allowing it to reinstate its interim dividend with a proposed payout of Sh1.50 per share.