Bailout-related salary restrictions that had been imposed on power utility PPC from 2010, like all other state-controlled entities, have been officially lifted by the board following the Greek State’s reduced stake to less than 49 percent, for the first time in the company’s 70-year history, early last month.

Employees will now regain rights for bonus payments, adding a further two months of salaries to their annual income.

The completion of PPC’s equity capital increase in early November left the Greek State with 34 percent of the company. Foreign institutional investors hold an overall 50 percent and domestic stakeholders have a 16 percent share.

The company’s workforce numbers and payroll cost have been reduced in recent years following a series of voluntary exit programs.

In 2009, a year before the salary restrictions were imposed, PPC’s annual payroll cost totaled 1.49 billion euro. It fell to 1.24 billion euros in 2010, when the company’s workforce numbered 21,845 persons. By 2019, PPC’s payroll cost had fallen to 817 million euros before dropping further last year, to 734.8 million euros, as a result of the voluntary exit programs, leaving 13,832 employees on the company payroll at the end of last year.

The contraction continued in the first nine months of 2021. Payroll cost fell to 482.7 million euros, not including lump-sum exit payments, from 519.2 million euros in the equivalent nine-month period of 2020, while the workforce numbered 13,103 at the end of this year’s nine-month period. These figures indicate the end-of-year payroll and workforce numbers will be lower compared to the end of last year.