Breaking: PTCL to Let Go Thousands of Employees Under VSS

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited just announced Voluntary Separation Scheme for its employees.

Announcement was made during a press conference in.

Company is hoping that at least 3,000 of its employees will avail the opportunity at a total cost of Rs. 10 billion. An approval from board was obtained in this regard, the media was told.

Maximum compensation that a single employee will get is estimated at Rs. 13.5 Million.

Syed Mazhar Hussain, Chief Human Resource Official PTCL, said that this fourth VSS scheme in PTCL’s history will be effective from November 28th, 2016.

Salient features of VSS scheme for regular PTCL and NCPG employees will be as following:

Regular employees will get transition pay multiplied by four multiplied by years in service (Transition Pay x 4 x number of years in service)
New compensation pay group (NCPG) employees will get enhanced 6 times of the years in service
Minimum length of service for eligibility of pension has been reduced from 20 to 18 years, and retiring employees will get the pensionary benefits of additional 2 years of service
Pensionable employees also have the option to choose between a lump sum payment of enhanced commutation or continued pension.
NCPG optees will get gratuity up to 4 times of basic salary (gratuity is tax exempted)
All the scheme optees will be given leave encashment of 180 days, irrespective of their leave balance
Allowances of six months for regular employees and 15 months for NCPG employees are also part of this package
In case of early adopter of VSS scheme, an additional bonus of Rs. 200,000 will be paid if employees apply for scheme with-in 20 days
If 30% or more employees of targeted population of any region opt for scheme, then an additional amount of Rs. 150,000 will be paid to each optees of that region
EOBI pension benefits (as per EOBI act and rules) will also be provided to VSS scheme optees

PTCL said that it will support VSS Optees in getting the jobs in other companies, for which services of leading head hunters will be arranged at company’s expense.

PTCL said that its liability will be restricted to the Head hunters’ commission in case the employee is selected for any job.

Moreover, in order to help the optees in beneficial cash management of their amounts, services of financial advisors (leading cash management companies/funds) will be arranged. Employees can consult them to having various investment options for making a better decision.

PTCL said that a comprehensive plan has been worked out to arrange Vocational Trainings at the expense of the company, enabling the optees to get the required skill set in different fields of their choice for a more affluent future.

It maybe recalled that PTCL offered VSS scheme for the first time in 2008 when over 30,000 employees availed the opportunity. Then another 5,700 employees availed VSS scheme in 2012. The company’s last VSS scheme announced in 2014 was availed by 3,000 employees.