Key highlights
- Reacting to previous allegations of staff discrimination, Seplat Energy has said its appraisal system is not discriminatory but reflective of performance
- Seplat Energy maintains that its appraisal system was changed because of issues arising from the former system
- Following a High Court order earlier this month, Seplat Energy CEO, Roger Brown stepped down from office over allegations of discrimination and favouritism.
In a bid to defend its Chief Executive Officer, Roger Brown, Seplat Energy has said that its staff appraisal system was reviewed in order to ensure that rewards are tied closely to performance results.
Part of a statement by the oil and gas firm explained the appraisal system, saying:
- “The 3-point appraisal system was developed by HR in response to staff suggestions for a review of the performance ranking system. On the part of management, the review was to ensure that rewards were tied closely to results such that those who were assessed with a higher performance would be eligible to receive a higher bonus payment.
- “The 3-point system resulted from an extensive internal review of our performance appraisal processes, with due consideration to the continuous staff complaints about issues which they observed/experienced in the former 5-point system.
- “The prior practice was a 5-point scale of Exceptional (score 81-87), Very Good (score 75-80), Good (66-74), Average (60-65) and Poor (score of 59 & below). A review was required due to the following challenges with the 5-point scale: “Prolonged periods spent in assigning different marks to the identified level of performance, to achieve a 75% average.
- “The objective was to make the assessment process more efficient and arrive at a timely outcome and make timely bonus payouts to staff. Imbalanced performance assessment and outcome for staff working within the same performance/job group level. The objective was to ensure that staff on the same performance level receive the same percentage bonus and individual performance review.”
The backstory: Seplat Energy’s Chief Executive Officer, Roger Brown, was asked to step down from his position earlier this month by a High Court. This was after allegations were made against him regarding staff intimidation, favouritism for expatriate workers, racism, and discrimination against Nigerians. Brown delegated authority to Samson Ezugworie after stepping down from his executive duties.
What you should know: Nairametrics had earlier reported that Seplat Energy had expressed full confidence in its CEO, Roger Brown and will be engaging with Nigeria’s Ministry of Interior to reject the impressions created by false allegations.
Also, Yemi Aderemi, spokesperson for Empower Nigeria recently announced that his non-profit organization had investigated the allegations against Seplat Energy and found the claims to be false. He said:
- “Allegation of enforcement of manipulative ranking scheme was not true. We found out that this allegation is not supported by facts but is a product of a hunting expedition. Arising from the observations and input made by the staff on the need to review the former 5-point ranking system which the staff considered to limit opportunities, especially around the 75% cut-off mark required for promotion, management reviewed and replaced it with a 3-point ranking scheme.”
