ABSTRACT
Following the privatisation of local water authorities the water industry has gone through a period of considerable change. The core business of AWG has been essentially to supply fresh water to customers and to treat their waste water. They have, however, a number of other functions such as billing, customer services and engineering development to support the business. The recent acquisition of Morrison plc has also widened the business to an integrated infrastructure management group, with a corresponding increased range of customers. This new market is intensely competitive. AWG has a significant international operation, serving more customers abroad than in the UK. Like many of the utility companies, AWG has undergone a reduction in their operational workforce. Employees of the company perform a wide variety of tasks in
offices, call centres, laboratories, treatment centres, outlying pumping stations which are usually unmanned, the public highways and on customers’ properties. Although technologies have been developed to support the core water business there is still a considerable requirement for employees to undertake a variety of manual tasks.
