Power utility PPC, preparing an entirely new remuneration policy for its workforce, intends to recruit managerial professionals from the employment market as part of its effort to modernize operations.

The corporation’s new pay policy promises to end distorted arrangements through which salaries of long-serving technical staff members and thousands of workers stationed at mines and power stations have reached or exceeded earnings of high-ranking managers.

Long-serving employees receive gross salaries of up to 4,600 euros per month, the upper-limit imposed on state-controlled PPC as part of the country’s bailout terms for public sector firms. The government plans to exempt PPC from this restriction.

Income levels of PPC managers are between 30 and 50 percent below current market rates.

For many years, successive Greek governments have not permitted administrations at PPC, seen as part of the public sector, to implement mass voluntary exit or recruitment programs.

Subsequently, the average age of the company’s employees now exceeds 50, meaning that thousands of workers have reached salary upper limits while earnings of managers have remained stagnant as a result of bailout-related restrictions.

Besides wanting to recruit professional managers, PPC is also planning voluntary exit packages for long-serving workers, to be replaced by lower-cost recruits.

All these changes, part of PPC’s restructuring plan, are being incorporated into a draft bill to be announced within October.