AB InBev starts hiring again

SABMILLER’S new owner, Anheuser-Busch InBev, is recruiting again after a higher than expected number of former SABMiller managers took a voluntary severance package and left in January amid allegations that positions were made redundant, forcing some people to leave.

But Ricardo Tadeu, Africa Zone president at AB InBev, said the company now needed to hire at least 100 new people as it planned new develop

“We are going to invest in two new production lines in South Africa. That will be announced in [the] future. So we’ll need people to run those lines,” Tadeu said.

Of just more than 1 000 managers that SABMiller employed when AB InBev completed the $103-billion (R1.2-trillion) takeover in October, 378 departed through the severance package process as part of the company’s global cost-cutting plans.

The process only affected managers at headquarters, not operations, to minimise disruption, Tadeu said. It was the first time such a large-scale restructuring had been done at SABMiller.

Posts are required in the legal, corporate affairs and finance departments and include administrative roles such as analysts and are not limited to managerial positions, Tadeu said.

Up until early this month the roles were offered internally before being advertised externally. Last year, when it sought approval to buy SABMiller, AB InBev agreed to not retrench staff over the next five years and workers at shop floor levels and those protected by the bargaining unit may also not be offered voluntary severance packages during this period.

The company had also agreed to maintain the workforce at around 5 600 positions over five years, but when this period expired AB InBev may not cut staff, Tadeu said.

South Africa will be home to a regional business centre, which will service some countries on the continent and others in other markets where AB InBev operates globally.

“We intend to grow and invest. We want more people with skilled positions. We have many projects being planned. These projects will bring different and new jobs to the zone,” he said.

This is contrary to claims by former insiders that more staff stand to lose their positions.

Two former SABMiller managers, who left the company voluntarily at the end of January and spoke to Business Times on condition of anonymity, said: “It’s just the beginning, unfortunately. They need a minimum of 400 managers to leave.”

But Tadeu said: “We won’t have anything like this happening again.”

Despite accepting voluntary severance packages, the sources said they had no option but to leave as their positions were made redundant.

A former manager said: “If you wanted to stay, you could stay,” but added that in some cases “there was no position and you were given a vague reason about why there’s no position”.

Tadeu said: “It was important for people to decide whether they wanted to stay or leave and for us to do that adjustment”.