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How Your HR Manager Review Your Performance

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Nigeria Hr

Have you ever received a performance review at the end of the year? Or have you seen your HR manager and supervisors so happy to give a performance review at the end of the year? If you answered yes to one of the questions above, then you may want to question the rationality and justification of the review in respect to your 365 days of work filled with ups and downs. Imagine only one event overshadows all the good works you have been doing; how then do you justify “performance management?”

Performance management – I call it the “sacred sacrifice”. Let me share this story. In early 2012, I had the opportunity to be a member of a performance appraisal team that was going to appraise a group of employees in a medium-size company in Canada – it was going to be my first-hand experience with the “sacred sacrifice”. The HR manager, a professional lady (who boasted to have studied in Imperial College, UK; and Harvard University, USA, was going to lead the appraisal.

Here is what struck me as a surprise, she was going to use some measure to appraise the employees in the Sales department and those in the Finance department! She succeeded in using the “objectivity criterion” for all employees. My attempt to correct her on this fallacy almost cost me my internship. The summary: shortly after the appraisal, 12 employees in the Finance department left the organization – they were trained and certified accountants. She almost lost her job though. Why? Because the thresholds and parameters for managing sales performance are not the same as managing finance.

Today, it is common to see such occurring. Ideally, I support performance appraisal but if it must be done, it should be done in fairness and must be timely. In fact, HR managers have to work with the immediate supervisor(s) of the employee to give the review. I do believe that the HR role should be rather reactive than proactive – you may argue this. In my sojourn in this discipline, I found that HR doesn’t really have any deep insight as to how an employee performs their works – it is usually the immediate supervisor and peers who are in the custody of this knowledge.  So how can HR wake up one morning and appraise an employee for all the works he or she did in the course of the year? That argument is lost and it even shows the various inefficiencies in handling performance appraisal.

Aside from the reviewer being a problem which many experts have pointed out, another major problem I have found (having done this in four different situations) is that many managers use objective criteria to appraise an employee who ought to have been appraised by subjective criteria, and vice-versa; or even use them together. In fact, the very mistake my HR Manager made saw 12 competent employees leave the company.

In my own human resource literature, giving performance appraisal is designed to help you improve, so taking the traditional process completely out will not happen now or soon. The only thing we see is that new technologies are being used to aid the process – the key is still “getting it right”,  and this can only be achieved through some factors such as re-educating and re-investing in the managers.

I do believe that the onus before HR is to work hand in hand with supervisors or develop a system that will allow supervisors and managers to be able to give feedback on an employee after each task or work performed. HR can then, use this information to make judgments rather than this one-on-one sitting at the end of the year. Either way, I do know for sure that the traditional approach will be around for a little longer but what matters is ensuring that the feedback is proactive and allows for development, not just criticism.

Is the CEO/Founder of Investors King Limited. A proven foreign exchange research analyst and a published author on Yahoo Finance, Nasdaq, Entrepreneur.com, Investorplace, and many more. He has over two decades of experience in global financial markets.

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Business

Increased Cost of Customs Duty, Forex Crisis Affects Used Vehicles Imports Volume in Nigeria

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New vehicles

Used Vehicles auto dealers in Nigeria have expressed concern over the decline of Tokunbo car imports volume in 2022.

According to the dealers, Tokunbo car imports dropped by 47% as a result of the increased cost of customs duty and the forex crisis.

These auto dealers disclosed that the increased cost of duty on used vehicles by Nigerian customs has affected their car sales. They lamented that the import duties have also affected the number of cars they import into the country which has drastically reduced.

It would be recalled that in April 2022, the Nigerian customs announced that it would update the importation of car edition from 2017 to 2021 in compliance with the ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) to the 2022-2026 version in which used cars coming into Nigeria are expected to pay a 20% tariff rate and a NAC levy of 15 percent.

The NAC levy, coupled with the Value Added Tax (VAT) of 7.5 percent, results in an almost 50 percent levy that is now paid on the importation of used vehicles in Nigeria.

Speaking on the decline of the importation of used vehicles in Nigeria, regional manager of Auto Auction Mall Oluwafemi Amisu said that the increase in import duties has 100 percent played an important role in the reduction of importation of used cars into Nigeria.

He also attributed the benchmark of car models to an increase in shipping cost leading to an increase in the price of the vehicles.

Shipping companies that formerly used 2,300 vehicle capacity vessels to ship into the country have visibly downsized to 1,000 or 1,500 capacity vessels.

“Majority of transactions made by Nigerians importing vehicles are within the 08-010 model range, which typically cost N400, 000 –N600, 000 to clear. However, since 2014 has been chosen as the benchmark, clearing costs have increased to between N1 million and N1.7 million,” he added.

Also, another challenge that has been attributed to the decline of importation of used vehicles in Nigeria is the Forex crisis which auto dealers lament has affected the purchasing power of customers. They added that people now prefer to buy Nigerian used cars instead of foreign used cars, even so, Nigerian used cars have also become very expensive.

Findings by Investors King reveal that the duty rate is majorly the reason for the drop in the importation of used vehicles, as most of the vehicles coming into Nigeria are below 2013, which mandates that any auto dealer bringing any car lower than that into Nigeria will pay a duty of 2013. Due to this, most of the vehicles are reportedly passing through Cotonou Port.

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Appointments

Ajay Banga Nominated as Sole Candidate for World Bank Presidency

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Ajay Banga

The World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors has announced that Ajay Banga, a United States national, is the only nominee for the position of the next president of the bank.

This news follows US President Joe Biden’s nomination of Banga to lead the World Bank in February, citing his suitability for the role at “this critical moment in history.”

Banga, who was born in India and is a naturalized US citizen, is currently serving as vice chairman at General Atlantic and previously worked as the chief executive of Mastercard Inc. If confirmed, he would become the first-ever Indian-American to head either of the two top international financial institutions: the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors will now conduct a formal interview with Banga in Washington D.C., with the expectation of concluding the presidential selection in due course. The current president of the World Bank, David Malpass, is set to step down in June, nearly a year before his term is scheduled to expire, and Banga is expected to replace him.

Banga’s nomination comes at a time of increasing global economic uncertainty, with the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating pre-existing inequalities and challenging the resilience of many countries’ financial systems. As such, the incoming World Bank president will face significant pressure to navigate the institution through these difficult times, while also addressing concerns around climate action and the role of the World Bank in promoting sustainable development.

While Banga’s nomination as the sole candidate for the position of World Bank president may come as a surprise to some, it also reflects the United States’ historical dominance in the governance of international financial institutions. However, it remains to be seen how Banga will use his position to shape the future direction of the World Bank and address the complex challenges facing the global economy.

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Company News

Unilever Nigeria to Focus on Higher Growth Opportunities by Exiting Home Care and Skin Cleansing Markets

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Unilever

Unilever Nigeria Plc, one of the leading Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies, has announced its decision to exit the home care and skin cleansing markets.

The company disclosed that the decision would only affect three of its brands – OMO, Sunlight, and Lux. According to Unilever Nigeria, the move is aimed at accelerating the growth of the organisation and sustaining profitability.

The restructuring of Unilever Nigeria’s business model is in response to the tough business environment in Nigeria, where many organisations and individuals have found it difficult to access cash due to the Naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Unilever Nigeria’s Managing Director, Mr Carl Cruz, noted that the offloading of the home care and skin cleansing portfolios would enable the company to “concentrate on higher growth opportunities.”

Unilever Nigeria has a strong competition in the business categories it is exiting. However, the company’s products are also market leaders in the sector. Mr Cruz added that the company was repurposing its portfolio by gradually exiting two categories, home care and skin cleansing, affecting only three brands (OMO, Sunlight, and Lux).

This would allow Unilever Nigeria to drive the rest of its brand portfolio for growth into the future and strengthen business operations with measures to digitize and simplify processes.

Unilever Nigeria is a truly Nigerian business and the oldest serving manufacturer in the country. The company’s decision to exit the home care and skin cleansing markets is in line with its commitment to adapt to changing market circumstances and reposition itself to better meet the needs of its consumers, shareholders, and employees.

Mr Cruz said, “By making these changes, we will unleash the sustained and profitable growth we need to be here for the next 100 years as well.”

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