Distrigaz Sud: 1,645 redundancies cost 17 million euros

Distrigaz Sud, the largest natural gas transmission and supply company in Romania, has paid out around 17 million euros to 1,645 employees who opted for voluntary redundancies packages, initiated by the company on June 16. Distrigaz Sud currently employs 6,179 people, down from 7,800 at the beginning of the year, and down from 10,800 when it was privatised and taken over by Gaz de France in 2005.
“The employees who opted for this programme have several advantages – they get 7-18 gross basic monthly salaries (depending on how long they have been employed at the company), plus 8,000 RON in compensation, support for a potential career change, and can opt for training programmes that include courses on compiling a CV, on job interview techniques and support towards finding new jobs”, company officials said.
According to the cited sources, the average gross monthly salary on June 1 stood at 2,509 RON, but only the employees who applied for the programme in the first two weeks of the programme received the 8,000-RON in compensation.
When the redundancy programme was announced, company representatives stated 1,000 employees had applied in the first two weeks. Employees who decided to leave during this period received around 11,000 euros, while employees who applied in the last few days received around 8,700 euros.
“There will be no other voluntary redundancy programme this year. Such a programme answers Distrigaz Sud?s need to adapt to the requirements of a competitive market, with new jobs being created and old structures being dropped. Distrigaz Sud?s personnel structure has, therefore, become more flexible and has adapted to the new realities of the gas market”, added company officials. Big companies that choose to restructure have started to avoid voluntary redundancy programmes because they run the high risk of losing important people.
Even at Distrigaz Sud, some applications were rejected. Companies like Romtelecom (the biggest fixed telephony operator on the market) prefer individual assessments, which means the company decides who leaves and who stays. Distrigaz Sud has undergone a major restructuring programme ever since it was privatised, which last year culminated in the separation of supply (commercial) operations from transmission operations, in line with EU requirements.
This separation resulted in two distinct companies – Distrigaz Sud, with 1,260 employees at present, and Distrigaz Sud Retele, which currently has 4,919 employees. Last year, the company reported a 963.3 million-euro turnover, up 6% against 2006, and net profit worth 54.5 million euros, 22.4% higher than in 2006.