GWI saving $240M annually after with staff reduction -CEO Baksh

With the number of staff members being reduced in the past 18 months by more than 300, the Chief Executive Officer of Guyana Water Inc. believes that the company is now in a better financial position.

At a press conference today, CEO Shaik Baksh said the staff reduction formed part of the company’s restructuring plan. Some of the workers were laid off while others retired or moved on to other jobs, according to GWI.

The CEO said the plan has resulted in the company now saving millions of dollars in employment costs monthly.

“We undertook a review of the staffing structure and the organizational structure, which was completed within a couple of months and was implemented. In August 2020, when the new management took over, the staffing complement was 1320 employees and through a process which was consultative with all levels of employees at GWI, including the top managers, and in discussions, we were able to identify the new organizational structure, the organizational chart for each department and unit, and over the last 18 months, we were able to bring down the employment numbers to just under 1000. To be precise, 998 as of today’s date” CEO Baksh said.

The GWI Chief Executive Officer said the company is now working with a better cash flow.

“We have a fairly good cash flow to meet all of our commitment that is employment cost which was skyrocketing, but we have been able through the restructuring of GWI to reduce employment numbers and this has resulted in an annual saving of $240 million in employment costs and at the same time our productivity ratio has gone up”, Baksh told reporters.

It was also explained that the company has been able to significantly reduce its debt and employees are now being paid their full benefits.

The water company is now examining other areas to cut back on additional costs while trying to improve its productivity and performance.

The company is still trying to get customers to settle their debt. According to the CEO, GWI is currently owed in excess of $3 billion for the supply of water to its customers.