Some years ago, I helped someone secure employment because he was in a very bad place financially at the time.

I couldn’t afford a big wardrobe change for him as he needed it badly, but we bought a few affordable shirts. We also bought two trousers and two shoes for a start. I also gave him just about enough to cater for his transportation and feeding every week.

The plan was to support him to stay afloat until he is paid his first salary, even though he wasn’t aware of my plan. I couldn’t afford to give him a lump sum to last him for one month, so I called him on Sunday evenings to meet me wherever I was and I hand him an envelope containing money for his transportation and feeding for the week.

I did this the first, second, third and fourth  week, until he earned his first pay and I left him to continue from where I left off.

I became an employer couple of years ago. As an employer, I make provisions for breakfast, dinner and transport fare for my workers in their first month of employment. This is to enable them perform optimally and also considering the economy and their financial backgrounds.

And if I’m unable to cater for a new employee’s transportation to work because of my own financial burden, I ask them if they need part of their salary in advance so as to help them sort themselves out.

When I got my present job, I was overwhelmed because I was out of town and out of job in an entirely different state. I was in that location taking care of my mother who was sick. This new job means I needed to move back to base to start life again, but this time I wasn’t going back alone, but with my mother and nurses.

This also meant I was in dire need of financial assistance as I was depleted. Moving back to my base especially with a sick person in need of special care is capital intensive as I needed health workers on standby.

I reached out to few friends and family to celebrate my new job and the possibility of returning to base after two years of being away. Most of them did not just congratulate me, they went out of their way to support me financially even without me asking. Some went as far as asking for my budget. My budget was running into a few millions, these people made contributions.

In less than a month, all I needed financially to go back to work and also take care of mother was fully provided by friends, family and well wishers.

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I received my employment letter in June of that year, did my documentation and was finally posted to an office in August of that same year. But we didn’t receive even a penny until end of December of that year; yet we were at work every working day. It was these same friends and family who kept me afloat financially till I got paid my accumulated salary in December.

The challenge most employees have in the first month of employment aside accomodation and clothing is usually how to raise transport fare and feed themselves until their salary comes.

Many may not summon the courage to ask you for assistance. They would rather sell valuable items at give away prices just so they can feed and transport to work, but how many even have valuables to sale?

Most times, when people call to inform you about their new job or visit to show you their letter of employment, it is a subtle way of soliciting your assistance financially without voicing it out. It is left for you to read in-between the lines.

When a friend or a family member gets a new job after years or even months of unemployment, you can go further than congratulating them. Assist them however  you can until they start to earn. I understand that times are hard and most of us are merely surviving, even most businesses are trying to break even, but whatever you can do to alleviate a newly employed suffering, no matter how little please do.

As an employer of labour, do well to alleviate your employees suffering, especially in their first month of employment. This idea of not paying their first salary as at when due is inhumane especially when you did not provide any form of palliative to help them stay afloat.

Agencies of government are culprits when it comes to new employees welfare. Even though there is something called “28 days”, this is an amount that is supposed to be paid to a newly employed to help cater for their welfare.

Unfortunately, most government agencies don’t do as expected, yet they expect employees to turn up at work every working day for more than three months or three months in some cases without pay.

Government should go further to make sure that those put in-charge of this department are people of integrity. Their activities should be closely monitored to make sure that new employees don’t suffer untold hardship.

Good friends and family are like sound health, their value is seldomly known until it is lost. If you are lucky to have good friends and family, learn to value them. Appreciate them and try paying forward their show of love. Do for others as it was done to you. It is one of the many ways to live an impactful life.