The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) is facing “significant” workforce challenges after losing hundreds of years in combined expertise through a previous voluntary separation exercise, a Cabinet minister said yesterday.

Alfred Sears KC, minister of works and utilities, said it was critical that BPL attract and retain the “best of the best” to help address its long-standing financial and other woes as well as assist with the transition to renewable energies.

BPL accepted 314 applications for its voluntary separation package (VSEP) in June 2018 under the former Minnis administration. It paid out a collective $56m tom departing workers, trimming the then-1,038 workforce by just over 30 percent or close to one-third. However, Pedro Rolle, BPL’s chairman, backed Mr Sears by agreeing this had stripped the utility of experienced staff and critical skills.

Mr Rolle said: “When this Board of Directors was appointed, we sought to identify along with management our most critical human resource gaps, and to determine just how to address them not just in the short-term, but to create a plan for greater organisational security.

“While in the short-term we are able to draw on the resources and the talents of some retirees, and some persons who are on their way out, that is not a sustainable way to run an organisation.” As a result of these challenges, BPL is putting together an initiative that will lead to “long-term sustainability” with regard to its workforce.