SaskTel beaches employees in the Bahamas

It could be described as Saskatchewan’s greatest job and it isn’t even in the province.

While many are freezing in Saskatchewan’s extreme cold temperatures, eight SaskTel employees are living and working in the Bahamas. 

In July 2016, SaskTel International won a two-year contract to provide wireless services to the Caribbean nation through Aliv, an entity of Cable Bahamas.

With approximately 4,000 employees, the job posting for the position in the Bahamas was highly sought after, but there were some specific requirements.

“It was based on the employees’ skill sets as well as their ability to move to the Bahamas,” explained Michelle Englot, SaskTel’s director of external communications.

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“People who had a longer tenure and (whose) children have left the nest and then some employees who don’t have children. But it obviously has to be based on their skill set and their ability to pull off the requirements of the contract.”

The lucky eight may be living the dream away from the harsh Saskatchewan winter but Englot assured SaskTel’s ratepayers they are working hard for their money.

“It might seem glamorous, but I understand that the employees have been putting in very long hours, so they haven’t had a lot of time to enjoy the nice weather too much. They have been putting in very long days,” Englot maintained. 

The wireless service came online in October 2016 and Englot described the contract as “going really well.”

SaskTel won’t reveal too much about the contract, but said all costs and expenses incurred by the employees are built-in/ Englot added the company is anticipating “a fairly good revenue profit.”

This isn’t the first time SaskTel International has entered into a contracts such as this, having previously done work in England, Tanzania and the Philippines.

“We have had many successful projects, there’s no long-term funds injected by SaskTel or SaskTel International and no risk. And the revenue is turned back to Saskatchewan,” Englot said.

SaskTel International has made a profit for 24 consecutive years. 

The revenue from the Bahamas contract will be revealed in the SaskTel annual report released this spring.

smills@cjme.com

On Twitter: @smillsSK