Fenaka Corporation, which provides utility services to a large part of the Maldives, has commenced efforts to downsize its staff to cut costs and stabilize financially, opening the opportunity for employees who wish to retire voluntarily.

According to an internal memo signed and released by Fenaka’s Chief Corporate Officer Usaid Hussain, employees who resign from the company by their own request will receive four months' salary as compensation.

The memo also stated that the opportunity to apply for this will be open from tomorrow until the 14th of this month.

In addition to the opportunity to resign voluntarily with four months' salary, the opportunity to retire under an early retirement program has also now been opened, according to the memo.

Fenaka’s Managing Director Mohamed Afeef told "Mihaaru News" that there are about 8,000 employees on Fenaka's payroll, and he believes that this is "not the right size" for the company.

"Then again, people have been brought in differently at various times, haven't they? So, we are looking to see if the company's operations can be organized within the right size of the company," Afeef said.

According to him, because the number of currently employed staff at Fenaka is so high, major difficulties are being faced administratively and operationally. He stated that after paying salaries to so many employees, it becomes difficult to find the funds required for spare parts for generators, fuel, and other necessities.

"If it is to be run as a [financially] viable company, what is received needs to be managed well, doesn't it? Every time salaries need to be paid to employees, obtaining the funds required for salaries from the government—that is not something that can be done forever, in a sustainable manner, is it?" Afeef said, detailing the reasons why staff numbers must be reduced.

However, he stated that to bring changes to strengthen Fenaka, work is currently underway to identify places that need downsizing and places that require reinforcement by looking at how many employees are stationed at the facilities where the company provides services.

"There are extraordinarily many employees introduced to the engine houses of various islands by different governments for this company, to do social work in different islands; there are even people introduced who were poised to go fishing," he said.

According to Afeef, Fenaka's financial situation is too low to be run with the current 8,000 employees. He highlighted that while the situation stands as such, heavy expenses also have to be made to procure the resources necessary to provide good service from Fenaka.

He stated that Fenaka's financial situation became so low due to the manner in which goods and services required for the company were procured in the past. He noted that instead of procuring necessary goods from good suppliers, they were obtained from obscure "paper companies", and some items not required at the time were procured, stating these were some examples of it.

"In various reports compiled by the Auditor General's Office, the internal auditor who audited the company, the external auditor, and the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament, it is present that things were not done right in the company's past," Afeef said.

He also stated that all those parties have highlighted that steps must be taken in order to normalize those matters.

Afeef said that among the large number of employees hired under the guise of running various projects by Fenaka, some people have been made permanent. Therefore, he stated that there are a large number of employees who do not have specific work to do every day.

"In some engine houses, in some branches, mind you, there are employees in a way where they do not have to clock in; a group of employees were taken from some island under the guise of running some project, and then before work could be done, they remain because there are no materials. They do not necessarily even have to come to clock in," Afeef said.

In some engine houses, he said that salaries are paid to such employees by somehow fabricating an attendance record when the month ends.

He also noted it has been observed that some people who are employed without any work to do go fishing or do other work after clocking in, and some are also involved in "undesirable activities."

Afeef stated that the work to normalize Fenaka was started because those matters stood as such, and he added that he will utilize his 27 years of experience gained in the field of company management for this purpose.