Vodafone NZ staff prepare for job losses

Friday, 14 December 2018

New broom Jason Paris had warned last month that cuts were coming as Vodafone NZ prepares for an IPO.

Vodafone NZ is consulting staff on a restructure but it has dismissed a rumour that a decision has already been made to axe about 400 roles.

Vodafone spokeswoman Kathy Gieck said the company had told staff that a consultation process was underway about a 'new organisational model' that could better set up the phone and broadband company for the future.

'We are committed to moving through this process transparently and will always talk to our people first,' she said.

'They have asked us to move quickly through the process and we have put a number of initiatives in place to support them through the process.'

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Vodafone is understood to have briefed staff this week on changes ahead.

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Gieck said staff had provided a lot of insight into where the company's opportunities lay 'and where the issues are that need to be addressed to enable us to deliver on our strategy to bring digital inspiration and innovation to every New Zealander'.

'We have some tough decisions to make about where we reduce investment to strengthen our commercial performance and create some freedom to invest in our people and customers in the future,' she said.

One industry source said there was speculation Vodafone would cut about 400 of its 3000 jobs.

But Gieck denied any such decision had been made, saying there was 'no pre-determined number or type of roles impacted'.

Another industry source said staff were briefed on Monday and Tuesday about what appeared to be sweeping changes.

It would be 'straight out of the play book' for newly-appointed Vodafone NZ chief executive Jason Paris to 'come in early, make big cuts and build from there', he said.

Paris, who took over the running of the subsidiary in October, said last month that he had been tasked with getting Vodafone NZ 'in shape' for an initial public offering (IPO) in 2020.

Its goal was to be 'the most efficiently-run telco in New Zealand by the end of next year' and that would involve some cost-cutting and job reductions, he said then.

But he said it would also be seeking growth opportunities and would need more data scientists, developers, engineers and social media marketers.

Vodafone had made a commitment to retrain and reskill staff who had the right cultural fit and were up for it, 'but we will have fewer people and not everyone will be able to retrain and reskill', he explained at the time.