250 jobs lost as Posta Uganda reforms
At least 250 jobs will be lost as government moves to restructure Posta Uganda in order to improve its competitiveness. Formerly Uganda Posts Limited, one of the successor companies of Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation Limited, Posta Uganda will have its regional offices reduced from 12 to just four in the restructuring process that started in February.
Presently Posta has 611 staff. However, in order to improve its competitiveness the proposed organisation structure will have 353 staff.
The reduction will generally affect the regional offices, a statement from the Priviatisation Unit said. Management consultants Deloitte and Touche carried out the restructuring exercise that was commissioned by the Parastatal Monitoring Unit to advise on the restructuring of the human resources function of the organisation.
” This is part of a wider restructuring process that is intended to transform Posta into a vibrant and commercially viable postal company that will generate a decent reasonable return on capital employed while continuing to provide a quality service to the public,” PU Senior Public Relations Officer Ms Grace Achire said in a statement.
Nepostel Postal Affairs, the consultancy branch of Dutch TPG/PTT Post, has been working with Posta since 2001 and is the lead consultant on the overall restructuring assignment.
A recent study found out that although Posta is expected to operate as a commercial entity, it inherited an organisational culture that is not sufficiently aligned to meet the challenges of today’s dynamic business environment.
“The prevailing work ethic, customer service levels, reporting & accountability structures, performance management systems, and job descriptions were all identified as areas for improvement,” Achire said.
Based on the findings of the restructuring study, the organisation structure was reviewed and a new organization structure, which addresses the key weaknesses of reporting relationships, duplication and fragmentation of functions, and the multiple layers of authority, was proposed.
The statement further said that new job descriptions have been developed for all the positions in the new organisation structure. They detail key responsibilities for each position, minimum academic qualifications and experience required of the position holder, supervision and the reporting relationships. The remuneration structure which was found to be bellow standard would also be reviewed.
The restructuring process will be phased over a period of six months and is expected to end by July 2004.
To prepare the staff for the change, government through Privatisation and Utility Sector Reform program have conducted group counseling programs to assist the staff in handling the change at the same time give them some pointers to alternative life strategies as well as to advise on prudent usage of the terminal benefits.
