There is growing discontent at I&M Bank Kenya, a Nairobi-headquartered Tier 1 financial institution under I&M Group PLC where multiple employees across departments have come forward to describe an entrenched culture of unfair treatment, discriminatory promotions, selective bonuses and retaliatory dismissals of staff who dare speak out.
According to staff with years of experience across different levels, what appears externally as a stable and prestigious financial institution masks internal frustrations, where career advancement is often decided not by merit or performance but by proximity to certain managers or shared ethnic backgrounds, with some staff describing a workplace environment where underqualified juniors are routinely elevated into senior roles without undergoing competitive processes, while experienced and better-performing officers are passed over repeatedly and left to train their new supervisors.
Several workers also point to the handling of annual bonuses and promotions, particularly during April, as a reflection of internal inequalities, with reports of some employees receiving payouts equal to three, four or even six months of their salaries while their colleagues in lower cadres, who they argue contributed equally to the bank’s financial performance, are allocated bonuses equivalent to just 15 days or are excluded altogether, reinforcing the perception that rewards at the bank are allocated through patronage rather than performance.
One of the more contentious changes in recent years has been the unilateral extension of resignation notice periods for managerial staff from one month to three months, a move that employees say was introduced to curb the high turnover caused by worsening internal conditions, but which many interpret as a coercive attempt to trap staff in an environment that offers little in terms of fair progression or protection from arbitrary decision-making.
Some employees further allege that promotions to higher grades come without the commensurate financial benefits, with staff being informed that their salaries will be gradually adjusted over a three-year period, even though the full scope of responsibilities for the new grade begins immediately upon appointment.
This practice, they say, amounts to institutionalised exploitation, particularly when considered alongside rising workloads, stagnant pay and increasing pressure to deliver on unrealistic targets.
The issue of discrimination reportedly extends to nationality, with multiple staff citing cases where Kenyan employees who successfully held leadership positions in acting capacity for months or even years are abruptly replaced by expatriates from India, often with minimal understanding of the local operations, only for the same Kenyan staff to continue running the department behind the scenes, train the new foreign supervisors and cover their work, all while being denied contract extensions past retirement age, a courtesy that the institution is said to extend exclusively to its foreign hires.
Racism, tribalism and sexism have been described as systemic problems that affect both hiring and promotion, with claims that recruitment processes are often bypassed in favour of direct appointments, leading to departments being headed by persons with neither the technical knowledge nor the leadership experience required for the role, ultimately resulting in operational inefficiencies that generate client complaints and further demoralise staff.
A previous attempt by one employee to publicly raise these grievances through email ended with what colleagues describe as a retaliatory dismissal after the internal communication was leaked, an incident that some now cite as a warning that speaking out about internal dysfunction attracts punishment rather than reform, reinforcing a culture of fear and silence that benefits a few at the top while most continue working under strained, inequitable conditions.
“Hi Cyprian. Kindly hide my I.D. I am a staff of over 8 years at I&M Bank head office in one of the departments here. People and especially clients might visit the branches and see staff smiling but all is not well. I remember a while ago an email from another angry staff leaked but no changes have been effected, in fact, it’s now worse. The author of the leaked email was tracked down and unceremoniously fired for speaking the truth. Favouritism is still the order of the day when it comes to promotions and bonuses, especially now that April is the month for bonus and promotions. How do you justify getting a bonus equivalent to 3, 4 or even 6 months of your salary yet some junior officer gets just 15 days or the majority miss out on the bonus as if this staff did not contribute to the bank income for a whole year? The bank is continuously facing fraud cases that threaten customer funds in their accounts. Last year the bank lost almost Ksh 200 Million that resulted in some staff being dismissed. The whole process was unfair as one of the operation managers who approved processing of the transaction did not face any disciplinary action because they are on good terms with the branch manager who is related to the director. More and more staff kept leaving the bank for better opportunities, so to prevent this they increased the resignation notice period from one month to 3 months for all staff in the manager grade. Staff are promoted on paper to a higher grade but their salaries do not commensurate their new grades, they are told that they will slowly be graduated to the full salary package for the new role after 3 years yet responsibilities begin right away. Sexism and tribal cards are the order of the day at the bank with the older and more experienced staff being left out during promotions, with younger staff without the proper training and experience being handed senior roles leading to complaints from clients and other staff members wondering how they landed the position. It’s a common occurrence nowadays to see positions being filled without interviews then the selected person is demoted or transferred to another department for lack of the proper skills to run the unit. Racism has also run rampant with Kenyans being left out of senior leadership roles for the bank to source someone from India, yet the Kenyan has run the department successfully for a couple of months or years. The Kenyan still does his work including the new boss’s work apart from training them for the position. Any attempt by Kenyan staff to request a contract after attaining retirement age is quickly denied yet there are Indians who are on contract and way over retirement age. These are some but a few of the many ills at the bank and I truly hope that someone changes the current culture. Our new CEO Gul Khan is trying his best but he is facing challenges from senior management who benefit from the already established system.”
