ISLAMABAD, Aug 31: The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has created a ‘surplus pool’ for employees who will be declared as ‘redundant’, a document available with Dawn has revealed.

The names of employees who are not very efficient will be placed in the ‘surplus pool’. They will not be required to go to the office and will not be paid conveyance allowance. But they will not be allowed to do any other full- or part-time job, either private or government. They will also not be allowed to open any business without formal permission from the PTCL headquarters.

According to the document, as soon as any vacancy will become available anywhere in Pakistan, requiring the skill set matched by any person in the surplus pool, he or she will be transferred irrespective of the region or city.

In the first phase of the plan, all regional offices have been directed to evaluate the utilisation of employees and prepare lists of those to be placed in the pool by Tuesday (Sept 4).

The decision to form the pool has sent a shockwave among the PTCL employees, over half of whom had been offered a voluntary separation scheme (VSS) in July. Many employees believe that those who did not opt for the VSS will be the first ones to be placed in the pool.

However, Syed Mazhar Hussain, the senior executive vice-president of the company’s human resources division, said the apprehensions were ill-founded. No one was being pressurised to opt for VSS which was purely a voluntary scheme designed to ensure long-term welfare and well-being of the employees and their families.

He confirmed that a ‘surplus pool’ had been created to place ‘inefficient’ and ‘redundant employees’ who would be imparted training as part of their career planning.

He said the VSS was offered to over 15,000 of the around 26,000 employees. “Employees have a choice to either opt for a very attractive severance package, or continue working for the PTCL which has always considered its employees as a top priority,” he remarked.

He said the PTCL’s first VSS scheme offered in 2008 had received a very positive response, which far exceeded expectations, with 35,000 of the total 50,000 employees opting for it.

He said the PTCL relieved 30,000 employees and it has since been a pressing demand from employees to introduce a similar scheme again.

Malik Habibur Rehman, the secretary general of the Muttahida Workers Alliance, an amalgam of four representative unions of the PTCL employees, claimed that the PTCL management was planning to lay off 20,000 employees.

He said the workers were being pressurised to opt for the VSS or “face the music”.

He said the VSS had already been challenged in the high court with the plea that the PTCL was bound to include ad hoc relief of 20 per cent of basic pay, notified by the government, in addition to the 12 per cent shares under Benazir Employees StockOption.

He said the PTCL was still a public limited company and government rules were applicable to it as only 26 per cent of its shares had been sold.