Unfair policies in Nigeria's work environment

The Nigerian graduates leave school unprepared for what the work environment has in store for them. They are eager to implement some of the “full-baked” or “ half-baked” learnings from the four walls of the school in the market and also make reasonable earnings from their work duties in a conducive work environment.

While others are lucky to be in a favourable working conditions, some are not so lucky. The companies in Nigeria have made themselves giants over our graduates. No wonder, some are relieved of their job without notice, Salaries are cut down on employers’ choice and threats, Salaries are also owed for months etc.

Worthy of note was how workers who were owed salaries for five months in a small firm in Lagos, went about in the discharge of their duties because according to one of them, “If we leave, how do we get another? It is better to keep working with the hope that we will be paid soon, than staying at home doing nothing. Getting a job these days is not easy.” So they kept working with no explanation from their employer as to the reason for the delay in payment.

Globacom of recent added an extra hour to the normal working hours of all its customer service workers even when this act goes against what was stated in their employment letter. So what do we have in this process? An extra hour of work with no increase in salary of its workers! Could be this modern slavery?

Could it be because of the few available jobs in the country right now and the fact that the Nigerian graduates do not have a choice than to embrace the new working system?

When workers are made to work an extra hour,  shouldn’t there be an extra pay to solidify these plan? Are Nigerian graduates aware of labor laws or do they think that labor laws do not exist?

As if these wasn’t enough, it was alleged that married women in the telecom company were also sacked of recent. There were speculations that it was because the married women  were not more productive in the discharge of their duties.  

So much for a telecommunication brand that prides itself as the foremost indigenous telecom company. Perhaps, a wiser choice would have been initiating a favorable work policies for the citizens of a country that offered an environment to thrive in.