Victimisation at GPL

Nov 25, 2019 Letters

Dear Editor,
Kindly permit space in your newspaper to highlight what seems to be an overwhelming situation at the Guyana Power and Light from a different perspective that your readers are not accustomed to hearing about.
The selective process of shortlisting applicants for vacant positions at GPL is flawed- not everyone is given a fair opportunity when positions become vacant.
There have been several instances within the past twelve months where persons who have acted in positions have been overlooked for those positions when it is advertised for persons who are not qualified.
There seems to be a culture at GPL where cronyism is the order of the day. Persons are already earmarked for positions even before they become available.
Recently, there was a case where a staff who had been in a department for several years and who acted in a position was overlooked for that same position when it was advertised for someone who came from a different department.
In another instance, a staff was interviewed by someone whom he had a personal grievance with and which is known by management.
That person should have recused herself from the interviewing panel or should’ve been asked to do so by her superior who was also on the interviewing panel and who has knowledge of the history these two staff shared.
About two years ago, the Customer Services Director introduced a rotation programme where staffers of the various sections were selected for cross-training.
It started as a three-month programme. When completed, it would have seen staffers returning to their substantive position- it was extended to six months and now staff are being manipulated into believing that they are being cross-trained when in fact they are being transferred to different departments and given letters to that effect.
Senior staffers who object to this are victimized. There have been several letters to the Human Resources Department about this practice but to date nothing has been done about it.
There seems to be a lot of reluctance to have these matters investigated.
Maybe an investigation should be carried out by the unions representing the different category of workers and/or the Ministry of Labour since many of the staffers have lost confidence in the Human Resources Department to do a fair and unbiased investigation.
Persons who have been in departments for several years and who have gained the knowledge and experience have lost the opportunity for upward movement since they have been transferred to other departments.
The Commercial Department at GPL is in a terrible state.
At any time, your readers can visit and they will be met with empty cubicles, especially on the western side of the customer service area.
Staffers are afraid to speak out for fear of being victimized.
Recently, an anonymous email was circulated to the Customer Services Director and other heads of department. The author highlighted the poor work ethic of one of the supervisors.
Instead of investigating the contents of the email, management was only concerned about the source of the email.
After that matter became public in GPL, the email access of all the commercial staff was taken away.
I speak for the staffers when I say that we see that as a form of victimization.
The way the supervisors treat the junior staffers, the manner in which they are spoken to and in some cases the vindictiveness should also be investigated.
Overtime is another issue.
The workload at GPL has increased significantly which is due to a staff shortage, new staffers being trained and the rotation initiative. The company always complains about money being spent on overtime yet it spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on snacks for board meetings and other frivolous things like managers’ retreat which don’t seem to have any positive impact on the way forward for this state company.
There is an atmosphere at GPL where many of the staffers now feel demotivated and it seems like the hierarchy of the Customer Services Department is on a campaign to remove senior staff members who stand up to her .
There is no place for qualified persons at GPL since they are not being shortlisted for positions when they become available.
Concerned Staff

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