Islanders Magazine

EXPOSED!

HOW ACCESS BANK MALTREATS STAFF
+OWES THEM 3 MONTHS SALARY

In May 2014, Access Bank started a project called Project ART. The ART means Account Reactivation Team.
Access Bank recruited DSAs (via various outsourcing firms)from all over Nigeria with the job function of reactivating and opening new accounts. They made all sorts of promises to us which I would highlight below
The Bank said, we would be paid a basic salary of 40,000Naira. Every other extra earnings would come from incentives. The incentive structure was thus, if you open or reactivate an account and the customer takes an ATM card; you get 100 Naira, if a customer subscribes for mobile banking; another 100 Naira, if they subscribe for internet banking; 100 Naira. Meaning, a DSA can make as much as 300 Naira per account. So if I'm able to sign on like 1000 accounts in a month, I can make as much as 200,000 after gathering and counting my 100 Naira. This was really a good deal
The bank set the monthly target at 200 accounts and said, if you can achieve above 200 accounts, that's an A* (A star) grade for the month, if by 6 months, you get an A* in your appraisal, you will get an Ipad and a recommendation letter for being outstanding and if by the end of one year, you get an *A*
In your annual appraisal, you will be sent to Access bank training school and converted to a full staff of Access bank.
The MD of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe addressed all DSAs, highlighting and affirming all these promises. We were so sure that it wasn't another recruitment scam.
Hearing all these good news from the horse's mouth was really a spur and so there and then, a lot of us made up our minds to succeed.
So we started work and a lot of people hit and surpassed the targets, you should have seen the way my colleagues worked hard, opening accounts; I mean all kinds: salary, students, regulars, co-operates etc. Some people even travelled outside Lagos to open accounts and get deals. It was that serious.
NB: The DSAs where placed under the supervision of full staff, each team had 10 DSAs and 3 professional staff. The structure was, the DSAs would source for the accounts and tag it to the MIS codes of the full staff, meaning, if I work, it would count for someone else in the bank, so basically, the full staff would just sit down and be pressing computer, inside AC, while the DSAs were hustling.
Two months into the job, Access bank reduced the basic salary from 40 to 35,000 Naira, giving reasons that it was a deduction for health insurance and till today, we did not sign any paper to that effect. Lots of people couldn't take it and so they resigned, in fact that was when the project started losing core materials (human assets).
Some people held on, for the hope ahead. By the 3rd month, lots of people were on A*, they met and surpassed the target. At this time the number of accounts per month was increased from 200 to 400. This was the point where I feared for my colleagues. A certain lady, Goodness from VI team, that girl was good! There were others like Otaigbe, same VI team, there was Lara, Ikeja team, Mayowa too and there was this other born-again girl like that. I call this one principality mhen! Her name Esther from Apapa team. I think by the end of the project, she was the overall best, I mean national best. I heard her grade was around 150%. That's like an A superstar. She was a game changer and I admired her secretly.
Meanwhile, the first set of incentives came in the 3rd month which was July, the second set came in September so you can imagine people feeding off on 35k for like two months. By the time the incentive started coming in, it was nothing to write home about: people were getting as low as 3000, 6000, 1500. Someone even got 100 Naira as I heard. Customers where not funding the accounts immediately, others didn't want ATM cards.
By October, the 3rd set of incentive was supposed to be out and paid, that was when we got the bulkiest of incentives since the beginning of the Project. At least, mine was around 31k but guess what? It has not been paid even as we speak! Since October 2014.
To cut a long story short, by December, Access bank called off the project. I guess the DSAs had fulfilled the mission before the set time. So DSAs were put on hold till the verdict was announced on who and who would go to training school. By this time, a lot of people had left, some other waited but the bank didn’t communicate anything to the DSA and so others left too as they lost hope.
Most of these people who left were the real materials while most of those who remained were junks. When a DSA leaves, his work is divided amongst his other colleagues, meaning, if we are 10 and 5 leave, all their accounts would be shared to others boosting the grades of some of those junk heads who remained. So most of those left overs would then be having grades like D to C and before you know it A, even when they didn't really work for it. Just a few did work for it like principality, Goodness, Otaigbe, Kunle, Lara, Rotimi as I can remember.
By March this year, the verdict was taken. The full staff had been graded and paid bonuses based on the works of the DSAs and so the DSAs were expectant. Training school was sure for some even though the Ipad had not yet come and it was past six months.
Guess what the bank did, they reposted the DSAs left to a new team to continue as DSAs- no promotion, no training school, just imagine! No salary upgrade same 35,000 Naira, in fact no communication on incentives too.
This is very painful and I'm using this medium to say "Dear Herbert Wigwe, dear Toba Olusola, dear Victor Otuokwu, this is not what you promised us". We feel used and dumped, you told us that we would be staffed and if you cannot fulfill your obligation to your first customer (your staff), then I doubt if your second customers should take you seriously. This is an integrity issue as well.
Some of my colleagues were sacked for stealing and suppressing cash, Access bank has stolen and suppressed over 8 months of our lives and I tag it an integrity issue as well.
Yesterday, we heard that finally, the Ipad for the exceptional DSAs was ready and guess what, The bank has been disbursing them to those junk heads and has refused to give to those who stayed till the end of the project and also qualified for the Ipads before leaving, saying that provision was not made for those who left. This is so wrong, it is their hard work, Access bank was suppose to give them in October but didn't, why won't you give them the reward of their labour now? It’s just like saying you won't pay someone who left your job an outstanding 3 months salary because they left.
All effort to hear the reaction of the bank proved absorbed as the head of the media didn’t reply our text message.