JPS welcomes 34 new line workers

JPS President and Chief Executive Officer, Steve Berberich, has challenged the energy company’s newly recruited line workers to recognise their importance as the frontline of customer care.  Berberich, in addressing an orientation session at the company’s corporate headquarters in New Kingston on Monday (January 8) to welcome 33 linemen and a sole linewoman into the organisation, encouraged the new JPS hires to “be empathetic. When they [customers] have outages and come to you, listen to them, understand them, and do your best to help them, within the process of course.”

The JPS lead was keen on underscoring safety practices to the batch of line workers who paid rapt attention as he spoke. “It is critically important for you to conduct yourselves safely. You have gone through safety as part of your weeks-long training, and they have instilled it into you,” Berberich said. “Now you are going to be out in the field, and it might seem quicker for you to do something without your gloves, but it’s the fastest way for you to not go home to your families and the fastest way for you to be injured.”
“When you think about a shortcut or not following the safety process, remember they are there to protect you and make sure you get home to the [familial] obligations that you have,” the JPS head advised.  

The onboarding of new field workers comes as part of a range of strategies being implemented by the Company, to fulfil its commitment to improve reliability. “We intend to dramatically increase the number of crews to pivot to a proactive maintenance posture and to more quickly respond to problems when they occur,” Berberich recently informed business leaders in Western Jamaica.  He noted that investing in proactive maintenance, would result in fewer outages occurring and increased capacity to respond more quickly when they do occur.   

Meanwhile, Blaine Jarrett, JPS’ senior vice president of energy delivery, in his address at the orientation session, explained to the line workers whose ages averaged mid-twenties, that they are joining the company at an important juncture given the strategic redirection plans afoot. “We are at a very critical stage in our existence, where while we are an essential service, we are

in a deep-seated competition as customers now have choices and can self-generate,” he explained.
Jarrett said in moving ahead, quality customer delivery is a key pillar of focus for JPS within the next three years. “We want to be reliable and you are going to be assisting us with that,” he told the line workers assembled in the company’s human resources conference room.  “The customer service that you  enable us to offer, will have the customer saying, ‘The service is really reliable, and they are passionate and offer customer service next to none. I feel  compelled to do business with them’,” he added.

For Phillip Whittingham, director of generation planning and performance, the orientation session held special significance. “My personal journey with JPS began 34 years ago as a plant operator at the Rockfort Power Plant which at the time was under the care of the Jamaica Defence Force Engineering regiment, and it resonated with me that we have 34 line workers here today,” he said at the top of his speech. Whittingham, who steadily ascended within the energy company to currently serve as director of the generation asset management group with responsibility for short and long-term planning maintenance of all JPS’ assets across Jamaica, said he hoped his career trajectory could be a source of inspiration.

“Always aspire,” the JPS senior director encouraged, “there must be that innate passion for safety, integrity, respect as we embark on service excellence over the next three years and beyond. To be the best version of yourself, hold dear to your heart at all times, the will to deliver the safest and the highest quality of service to every one of our customers, internally and externally.”

Whittingham’s words struck a nerve with new lineman recruit Jonathan Shaw.
The 23-year-old from Duncans, Trelawny who previously worked for five years as a contractor at JPS’ operations base in his home parish, said he was patiently waiting on the opportunity to become a line worker. “I learnt a lot of things in training that I was not exposed to, such as how to plant poles manually without a crane truck, isolate and close power lines, and safety aspects of the job,” he shared of his 11-week training programme that was held in Bogue, St. James.   “I aspire to go up the ranks as far as I can go, and to stay with the company until I am old because I really love this company,” Shaw vowed.

The 34 new JPS line workers officially commenced their work duties on January 9.