AB InBev recruiting again after too many managers take exit packages

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 developments.

“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 told Business Times on Friday.

Of just more than 1 000 managers that SABMiller employed when AB InBev completed the $103-billion takeover in October last year, 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.

“At the end of the day we ended up with more people leaving than we ideally wanted. Now we’re in the process of rehiring some of the positions,” he said.

These 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.

“We’re in the process of matching people’s interest with positions available,” Tadeu said.

Last year, when it sought approval to buy SABMiller, AB InBev agreed to not retrench staff over the next five years and workers at shopfloor 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.

“We had no control over who wanted to stay or leave because it was a properly controlled voluntary process.”

He disputed claims by the sources that the process resulted in more white than black managers staying, putting the company at risk of flouting employment equity laws.

“The percentage [of black managers] left was very similar [to before].” But the company would also focus “much more on bringing more equity [appointments] to the company,” he said.

Both sources said the severance packages offered were lucrative, with additional sweetners for those who were in more senior positions.

“It was definitely skewed towards older managers. A lot of us took legal advice on this. [The offer] was crafted carefully to ensure there’s no direct violation [of the agreement with the Competition Tribunal],” one of the sources said.

Tadeu said: “There was a very strict legal framework … we had to offer the same thing for everyone at the same time otherwise it might not constitute a voluntary severance offer.”

He said SABMiller employees already had a pre-defined package, which allows for two years worth of pay above the legal standard. AB InBev agreed to retain this but for a limited period it also added a premium of 25% to 30% to the SABMiller offer.

Tadeu said AB InBev regarded Africa as a growth engine. “Our zone is supposed to deliver more growth than cost reduction. We’ll probably be investing a lot in terms of capacity.”

The company plans to build a new brewery in Nigeria in addition to expansion in other countries.

In AB Inbev’s 2016 annual report, which was published on Thursday, CEO Carlos Brito and chairman Olivier Goudet said in a joint statement: “The integration process is well under way.”

We had no control over who wanted to stay or wanted to leave