26 Jan 2025

A total of 4 100 Choppies employees who have been with the company 12 months or more, have started earning P4 000 as of this month.

This was revealed at Choppies P4 000 living wage launch in Gaborone on Saturday.

President Advocate Duma Boko in his keynote address commended Choppies Group for implementing government’s plan to introduce P4 000 living wage.

Mr Boko said what Choppies did was an epic milestone and urged other industry players to follow suit.

“This is one of the best financial and economic decisions that a company that seeks to grow has taken. Let this be a lesson an invitation to other industry players. If you haven’t taken this decision yet take it very soon because it is the best decision you will take for your company,” he said.

He said raising from minimum to living wage did not only increase employee financial benefits but also supported the company bottom line profit and the country’s economy.

President Boko said  data and economic research had indicated that the increase supported economic growth, led to job creation and improved productivity, which would drive the company’s overall performance.

“Workers who feel that they are paid a fair wage are happy. It boosts their morale and it raises the level of productivity in the workplace and that has a direct bearing on the bottom line profit,” he said.

He added that well paid workforce were not prone to fatigue and it also reduced staff turnover, which spoke to the company’s staff retention policy, adding that failing to retain staff came at a huge cost to the business.

He also said there was a need for Parliament to refocus on making laws for the betterment of the country’s business environment, saying most laws in the country were unfriendly to business.

“We need to change these laws and change them very quickly to raise the tempo of operations and improve the ease of doing business in this country,” the President said.

Mr Boko further said the country could lose investors who had no patience with tedious processes.

Choppies Group chief executive officer, Mr Ramachandran Ottappathu said Choppies was committed to continuously improving and supporting the lives of its employees through better terms of employment and creating a future where everyone benefited.

Choppies Group board chairperson, Mr Uttum Corea said the company came up with the strategy that aligned the group to the government’s position.

He further said the living wage was the first step toward addressing the issue of poverty, adding that unemployment was high in the country and there was a need to address such. 

He said there were many good plans for government to address poverty and unemployment, but were gathering dust due to lack of implementation.

He said economic diversification was possible in the country but there was a need to come up with a strategy to diversify and create employment.

However, he said although Choppies could pay the living wage, such should not be imposed on businesses, which were not ready.

Explaining the rollout progamme, Choppies Group head of human resources, Mr Molatedi Kgotla said the living wage would be paid this month to all the employees who completed 12 months of continuous service, while those without 12 months would receive adjustment in increment every six months starting July. ENDS