DIGICEL Guyana has asked its employees to take between five to 20 per cent pay cuts in response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has negatively impacted businesses locally and globally.

When contacted by the Guyana Chronicle on Sunday, Digicel Guyana Communications Manager Vidya Sanichara confirmed that the communications giant will be cutting the salaries of its workers in view of the epidemic which has resulted in a partial shutdown of the country.

“Whilst we recognise that this will be an extremely challenging period for everyone, we have reluctantly decided that we must ask every employee to take a temporary reduction in salary until the end of FY21. This has been a very difficult decision; however, it is necessary in order to keep as many people as possible in employment and in the interests [sic] of business continuity,” Sanichara told this newspaper.

The pay reductions will be implemented on a tiered basis – dependent on salary level — with the lowest reduction at five per cent and the highest at 20 per cent. Staff on a basic salary of US$10,000 or less will not be affected.

Digicel Guyana noted that the world has been hit by an unprecedented crisis with “serious knock-on effects” already being witnessed in economies in the Caribbean, Central America and the Pacific.

It said that while it cannot yet quantify how severe the impact will be, it will be worse than the global financial crisis. It also highlighted that leading global economists have predicted that economies could shrink by 15 to 20 per cent — especially those relying on tourism – and it could take up to two-four years before they recover.

“Against this very difficult backdrop, our own business is similarly affected. Consumers have lower disposable income and lockdowns have altered customer behavior, while businesses of all sizes are negatively impacted.

As such, we find ourselves having to make tough decisions in tough circumstances and must reset our cost structure in line with these new realities…we realise that this is going to be hard for everyone, but we are asking our staff to accept these measures in the hope that, by taking these significant steps now, we can come through this together,” Digicel Guyana said.

Just three days ago Digicel Trinidad and Tobago reported that similar pay cuts would have to be taken by its staff, noting that the same would occur across the entire Digicel Group.

According to T&T Newsday, the company estimated that 68 per cent of staff would be affected by the pay cut which the board said is a difficult but necessary decision to prevent job losses.

The decision came after the company realised a significant impact from prepaid customers as many have lost their jobs or have had reduced incomes because of the COVID-19 restrictions.

Digicel Group is a total communications and entertainment provider with operations in 31 markets throughout the Caribbean, Central America and the Asia-Pacific regon.

Digicel Guyana said it will continue to invest strongly in its networks, in content, in digital and in our community outreach programmes and Digicel Foundations.