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| Sunday, 2 November 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Farewell to 763 SLT employees by Hiran H. Senewiratne Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) bade farewell to 763 employees selected from a total of 1,025 who had opted to retire voluntarily under the company's Rs 710 million Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS). The VRS is a phased-out plan that allows employees of non-executive categories between the age of 50 and 59 years in the first phase and 45 and 50 years in the second phase to retire voluntarily. The employees who retire will get a package between Rs 150,000 and Rs 1,100,000 under the VRS. SLT expects to recover the money spent on the VRS package within two years. The remaining employees who had chosen the VRS will be retired on December 31 under the second phase. At a function held in Colombo, SLT handed over terminal benefit and service certificates to the first batch of employees. Many banks and financial institutes voluntarily advised outgoing employees on how to invest their packages in a prudent way. SLT also handed over the cheques of the VRS package as well as the cheques relating to Employees Provident Fund and gratuity at the function. The retired workers will receive a rental-free residential phone until the age of 55. SLT's VRS comes under its restructuring plan to improve productivity. The scheme will help the institution to right-size its work force and re-engineer it based on the actual demand. The average age of the staff, which is 43 at present, will plummet, enabling SLT to maintain the right age blend of its staff, an SLT spokesman said. International telecom industry standards suggest a high ratio of Direct Exchange Lines (DEL) per employee. After the VRS, SLT will increase its DEL to 95, which was 38 in 1996. |
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