Employee welfare: Long-serving Del Monte workers tell success stories

From his days as a youthful and inexperienced fresh graduate when he joined the company in 1993, Alala has risen through the ranks at work, broadened his skill set, and grown into the person he is today, all thanks to his employer who he says has supported his career journey and shaped the person that he is today.

“I joined Del Monte in 1993 after graduating from the University of Nairobi. I had worked elsewhere for two years, then joined the company as an accountant in payroll in 1993. Three years later, I was promoted to Senior Accountant in the Finance Department. Thereafter I was promoted again to Head of Financial Accounting” Alala says.

“So overall I can say that over the 30 years I have worked at the company, I have grown and undertaken so many professional trainings. I have even been taken abroad for benchmarking in countries such as France,” he adds.

Alala is not the only happy soul at Del Monte. Many other employees, including Alice Wanjiru Muigai, share the success story of one happy and thriving family at Del Monte.

Just like Alala, Muigai has had a lengthy engagement with Del Monte. She has clocked an impressive 24 years of service this year and is raring for more milestones.

Besides her long service,  Muigai’s story is also one of firsts.  She was the first woman to work in Del Monte’s Engineering Department, where she also stood out because of her young age when she joined.

Despite her odds, the company’s inclusivity and teamwork policy helped Muigai to perfectly fit in and today she excels in her role.

“I joined on May 15, 2000. It was a great honour to work at Del Monte having empowered me as a young girl in that field. I thank God that when I was given that opportunity, it became a platform to learn more in that field,” Muigai, an electrician at Del Monte narrates.

“I was the first lady in the company’s engineering department. It was not an easy job, but through the support of colleagues, I made it through. So I could say that Del Monte is one of the companies that take care of their employees,” she adds.

The stories of Alala and Muigai manifest robust employee welfare management policies at Del Monte, which has seen the company grow and retain top talent.

“I have grown in my accounting career with Del Monte which has been very helpful. The company has been able to take care of our needs, be it medical, school assistance, and many other obligations. All I have achieved in my life has to do with the support of the company, which I am very happy about. It has employee welfare at heart. We have all the CBAs (Collective Bargaining Agreements) in place, which means they ensure employee welfare is taken care of,” Alala testifies.

 Muigai says the company has sustained employee engagement to ensure all are cared for in terms of skills upgrades.

“Del Monte has empowered me in different ways. In 2011, they took me to a different department to learn about instrumentation and controls. After that, it was an added advantage to my career. Del Monte enables everyone to be enlightened and comfortable to do all they do,” she says.

Multiple studies have shown that the employee retention checklist requires engagement, regular two-way communication with employees, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

A recent US survey by pollster Gallup showed that low engagement rates lead to higher turnover, as data shows 73% of disengaged workers report they are actively looking for another job. These employees also have higher levels of absenteeism, are less productive overall, and are more likely to commit errors on the job.

Del Monte values two-way communication with its employees, who they acknowledge deserve to feel connected to the company, its managers, as well as colleagues. Positive attention to employees makes them feel engaged and valued, which helps to eliminate frustrations and feelings of disengagement and keeps them longer and happier in the company.

Additionally, Del Monte has and adheres to a policy of diversity, equity, and inclusion which grants each employee a chance to serve and thrive.

The company maintains a discrimination-free policy on all aspects of its operations from hiring to promotion, compensation, and succession planning. The company upholds that by levelling the playing field — it gets the best out of its happy and empowered pool of talented employees.

For Del Monte, every employee counts and their welfare is paramount.

Trade unionists concur and have lauded Del Monte for its robust employee welfare system and its readiness to always have open discussions whenever issues arise.

Del Monte is one of the few companies whose employees are represented by two workers unions — The Kenya Union of Commercial Food and Allied Workers and The Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union (KPAWU). 

“As a union, we have always found it easy to engage with the management of Del Monte Kenya when there are concerns on workers’ issues and as such, we have not had court battles. We thank Del Monte management for practicing social dialogue and respecting the leadership of the Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union through having constant and continuous engagement when issues arise,” Francis Atwoli, Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary General says.

Atwoli says the social protection mechanism, dispute resolution procedures, and human resource policies of Del Monte are not only commendable but progressive and worker friendly.

The Kenya Union of Commercial Food and Allied Workers also pointed out that the company has consistently reviewed and honoured Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) signed with its employees.

“We have built a strong industrial relations engagement where workers’ terms and conditions of service are reviewed regularly through CBAs and where there are emerging disputes, there is an effective and elaborate dispute resolution mechanism in place. We enjoy a warm and cordial relationship with this company and hope that such robust engagement will continue into the future,” Union Secretary-General Boniface Kavuvi says.

Del Monte is committed to maintaining and facilitating worker wellbeing for all its employees. The company provides housing to employees and their families, medical care for the communities, and schools for children.