The General Secretary of the Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU), Michael Adumatta Nyantakyi, has charged Management of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Ltd. to ensure that staff receive adequate and comprehensive training when new technologies and processes are introduced into the Company’s operations.
According to him, as companies invest in new technologies to improve efficiency and safeguard their continuous survival, the desired benefits from such investments can only be achieved if staff, the primary end-users are equipped with the know-how. He urged staff of the company to develop interest and avail themselves to acquire new skills, which will guarantee their continuous stay and relevance in their job roles.
Mr. Nyantakyi made the call in his remarks at the maiden ‘ECG Accra West Region Senior Staff Union (SSU) Dialogue Series’ under the theme, ‘Towards a Financially Sustainable & Customer focused energy service provider: the role of the senior staff”. The annual dialogue series is designed to promote critical conversations between senior staff and key stakeholders in the company on ways to address factors that militate against smooth operations.
The Accra West SSU Chairman, and Chairman of the Finance Board of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Samuel Willie Appiah, said that the dialogue series was to formally welcome over sixty (60) staff who were recently promoted to senior staff levels, and also to offer its members a platform to engage in a direct conversation with management over how the company’s operations can be improved.
Mr. Appiah noted that considering the recent introduction of some new softwares and technologies to aid ECG’s operations, it was necessary to sensitize members to be psychologically and professionally prepared for the impending change.
The ECG has recently adopted the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) module to synchronise and automate its internal processes and procedures.
The Accra West Regional General Manager, Ing. Ebenezer Ghunney welcomed the birth of the dialogue series, an interactive platform for Management and staff to discuss issues of Company. He bemoaned the practice of staff unions and managements always being at opposing ends and called for closer collaboration from Union leadership, to influence management decisions and push staff to contribute their quota through hard work.
The General Manager of Personnel, Mrs. Evelyn Ofosu Kwakye, representing the Director of Human Resources, entreated staff to always prioritize offering quality services to customers since customers are the lifeblood of the organization. She enumerated some key pointers to guide staff, including timeliness of service delivery: quality and efficiency of service, and ease of doing business with the company through simplified processes. Mrs. Ofosu Kwakye expressed management’s appreciation for the dialogue series, and called for more of such initiatives.
Prior to the dialogue series, the 220 members of the SSU in the Accra West Region had a day’s interaction with customers in all of the Company’s seven district offices in the Accra West region. They administered questionnaires “for better understanding of prevailing customer concerns about the company’s operations and services”. The day’s programme was dubbed “time with the customer”
