FIJ
Huawei, a multinational IT company headquartered in China, started its operations in Nigeria in 2000.
Since then, its business odyssey in Africa’s most populous country has made it a perennial recipient of many merit awards from private, corporate and national entities in the country.
Most recently, the Chinese multinational received the National Productivity Merit Award from the Federal Government of Nigeria for “advancing ICT in Nigeria”.
However, it’s not all rosy for the employees of the organisation.
Speaking to FIJ, Ademola (not real name), a front office engineer at Huawei, described the working conditions at the company as harsh, especially for non-permanent or contract staff members.
“There are more contract staff members than there are permanent staff members at the Huawei office in Lagos. I can say we constitute about 70 percent of the entire staff roaster,” Ademola said.
“The truth is, they don’t treat us like we are graduates and experts at Hauwei. They treat us like we are illiterates.
“We are always at the mercy of our bosses because promotion doesn’t come easy, unlike what the permanent staff workers are used to enjoying on a yearly basis.
“Presently, we have employees who have spent eight years in the same position, just because they are non-permanent staff members. Rather than promote them, or organise conversion tests for them, they employ new permanent staff members from outside and train them.”
STARK DISPARITY BETWEEN CONTRACT STAFF AND PERMANENT STAFF REMUNERATION
Despite the unfavourable conditions and the bleak prospects of moving up the career ladder at Hauwei, the affected non-permanent staff members see quitting their jobs as suicidal.
“There are not many other places you can be employed as a front office or transmissions engineer in this country,” Doja (not real name), another contract staff member at Huawei, told FIJ.
