BT has today announced plans to cut 15,000 more jobs
after reporting massive lossesfor its latest
financial year.
This will take the total job cutsto 30,000 by the end of next
year. BT employs about 150,000 staff.
The communications giant reported a £134mloss for the year,
compared witha £1.9bnprofit last year.
A total of 10,000 contractors and 5,000 permanent staff have
already been cut, and BT expects "further reductions of a similar
level next year".
The firm saidit wouldtry tokeep onpermanent staff. "We have
sought to retain our permanent workforce through redeployment and
re-training."
CEO Ian Livingston, commenting on the results, said,"Three out
of four of BT's lines of business have performed well in spite of
fierce competition and the global economic downturn."
But the company's outsourcing service provider was the odd one
out. "This achievement has been overshadowed by the unacceptable
performance of BT Global Services and the resulting charges we have
taken. During the year we have changed the leadership of BT Global
Services and started to turn the division around," said
Livingston.
Scott Morrison, research vice president at analyst firm
Gartner,said,"This should streamline some of the back-office
operations, and will not just affect the market-facing units such
as BT Global Services.
"The need for BT to continue down the line of automation and
industrialisation of its portfolio is now more urgent, as it
doesnot have the luxury of providing such a high-touch, bespoke
relationship to all its large enterprise customers as was the case
in the past.If it can get this automation right, it will not only
improve its margins, but should also improvethe quality and
consistency of its delivery, thereby positively impacting customer
satisfaction levels."