• Reduction in basic salary and hours for all NWR employees
• Continued engagement with stakeholders to map the way forward

 

Windhoek, 9 November 2021 – The last 16 months have been the most challenging period that any tourism company has ever experienced. Each company within the sector took various measures to safeguard its operations and its employees’ livelihoods. Being a State-owned enterprise Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR) Limited equally 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 NAPWU 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.

 

All these efforts were made to safeguard the well-being of its employees and the business. However, with the further challenges that the industry continues to endure, NWR has had to look at other additional measures to sustain its business. On this basis, NWR, in line with section 12 (6) (a) and (b) of the Labour Act, 11 of 2007, 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. In the case of NWR, only the basic salary will be affected as per the table.

 

Job grade	Basic salary % cut	Hours of work reduction
A1 – A5	10%	A 10 % reduction in hours (which translates in 48 minutes, rounded off to 1-hour reduction per day).
B1 – B5	10%	A 10 % reduction in hours (which translates in 48 minutes, rounded off to 1 hour reduction per day).
C1 – C5	15%	A 15 % reduction in hours (which translates in 72 minutes, rounded off to 1-hour reduction per day).
D1 – D5	20%	A 20 % reduction in hours (which translates in 96 minutes, rounded off to 1 hour 30 minutes reduction per day)
E – F	25%	A 25 % reduction in hours (which translates in 120 minutes hours, rounded off to 2-hour reduction per day)

 

“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,” says Dr Matthias Ngwangwama, NWR Managing Director. At the same time, NWR is continuing to engage the Ministry of Public Enterprise and its key stakeholders to see how they can assist it during this period.