Insurance giant Sanlam has got on the wrong side of its sales representatives after the company offered them loans instead of salaries for April as Covid-19 weighs on sales.
In a letter to staff penned by Tiyani Mbalati, head of Sanlam Adviser Network and seen by Sunday World, Mbalati said the company’s executives were aware that the sales representatives were unable to procure new business volumes “through any meaningful, robust, nonface-to-face capability” and that this would impact on their salaries as their pay is variable and linked to the amount of new business generated.
“To mitigate the impact on your livelihood, we have put together a financial package in the form of a non-interest loan that aims to offer relief for the month of April. At this stage, we will announce that this loan will be repayable over a six-month period, starting from the July 2020 production month until December 2020,” reads the letter.
“The repayment options will be available through the use of either your retention account or commission earnings or a combination of both. I assure you that we will review this again should the need arise. Kindly note that this is not compulsory and each person can elect whether to take up this relief or not.”
However, the sales representatives did not take kindly to the company’s offer and wrote to management in a letter dated 23 April, expressing their disgust.
The workers, in the letter, demanded that the company pay a minimum of R25 000 to every employee who works for Sanlam Sky. “We urge the company to take care of us as employees as we take care of their business. Now is the time for them [Sanlam] to prioritise us,” reads the workers’ letter.
“What surprised us is that Sanlam had announced that they have put +/-R79-million for Covid-19 and also donated R100-million to the solidarity fund, now where’s the logic on that? How come we have to take loans if the company can put aside almost R179-million to assist in the current pandemic yet its employees are facing hunger?”
In an e-mailed response, Sanlam said a number of its intermediaries, whose earnings are based on commission, have expressed concern about the arrangement the company had put in place.
“This offer was made in good faith and with due consideration of all stake holders. We have noted these concerns and after careful consideration have revised the relief proposal to something that we believe will be better aligned to all stakeholder interests.” It could not be drawn to reveal the new proposal.
