Job fears at O2 as 160 employees face redundancy

Chief executive Mark Evans delivered the news to staff in a video message just before Christmas

O2 could make up to 160 of its employees across various areas of the business redundant as part of a new restructuring programme.

According to the Communications Workers Union (CWU), O2 chief executive Mark Evans delivered a video message to staff before Christmas announcing five per cent of its workforce would be axed this year. All 160 at risk are represented by the CWU, who called the decision as ‘thoughtless and cruel.’ A total of 2,800 at O2 are CWU members.

Those facing redundancy include employees in non-customer facing roles, such as customer service and transformation, service management, business operations, sales, operations network and various PA positions. Individual consultation meetings are currently taking place to notify those affected about whether they will be made redundant or transferred to a new role.

According to the CWU, 118 of the affected positions may stay with the company, five new roles will be created and 49 will leave the company by the end of March. Those at risk can apply for discretionary voluntary redundancy.

CWU assistant secretary Sally Bridge said: “This is clearly an unnerving time for staff, but members can rest assured that the CWU will be working hard to ensure that individuals are treated fairly and that their rights are respected in full.”

“We’ve made it very clear that we find it unacceptable and deeply offensive for an announcement of this type to be made to employees just before Christmas, especially when staff were then expected to wait until the second week of the New Year to find out whether or not they were in scope for possible redundancy.”

An O2 spokesperson said: “We operate in an extremely competitive market and continually review and improve our organisational structure. This ensures we remain efficient while delivering great service for our customers.”