950 Vodafone workers to go home

02-08-09
Page 3

NINE hundred and fifty workers of Vodafone Ghana Limited are to go home on compulsory redundancy by the end of November this year.
According to the company, the exercise would be done in a fair and transparent manner, and in line with the terms negotiated in the collective bargaining agreement and other conditions of service, which required the payment of three months basic salary for each year of service for staff affected by compulsory redundancy.
“We expect up to 950 employees to leave under compulsory redundancy by the end of November 2009. A new organisation structure will come into place by December 1, 2009,” the Chief Manager, Corporate Communications of Vodafone Ghana, Mr Isaac Abraham, said at a press conference in Accra yesterday.
He said clear exit procedures would be followed and all affected employees would be given a three-month notice before exit.
He said as was done in the last two voluntary exit programmes, the company would offer full transition support for affected staff in the form of entrepreneurial training, investment advice, counselling and preparation for life after Vodafone Ghana.
Mr Abraham said the company had notified the Labour Office, the senior staff association and the Communications Workers Union that Vodafone Ghana was being restructured to deliver enhanced value for customers and ensure commercial success in a competitive market.
“We have offered two voluntary exit programmes this year. The second one, at the request of the union, was restricted to non-unionised employees. We, however, received a number of requests for voluntary redundancy from colleagues who belong to the union and we have now accepted all these,” he said.
He said the company would continue to consider voluntary applications on a case-by-case basis, since it was critical to give everyone a personal choice during the time of change.
Mr Abraham said last year, the company reported a loss of GH¢264 million, adding, “We urgently need to turn Vodafone Ghana into a strong and successful business for the benefit of our customers and our employees.”
The business model of the company, he said, needed to be sustainable in the long term, delivering better service to customers through more efficient process and significantly reduced complexity.
He said the company would become successful by focusing on its core business and by automating its processes to reduce duplication and build efficiency, adding that it had recently created jobs in the wider community through direct sales agents.
Mr Abraham said the company had more than 7,000 sales agents, and that 1,200 more were to be added as commissioned sale agents.
Vodafone took over Ghana Telecom about a year ago under the purchase agreement that gave the company 70 per cent ownership of Ghana Telecom.