Business which offered £50k recruitment bounty lays off staff

Skills go out of fashion

By Robert Blincoe • Get more from this author

Posted in e-Business, 26th February 2001 12:11 GMT

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Ebusiness software developer Entranet has made 30 staff redundant.

The announcement is significant because only last summer the Henley-based company announced it was offering a £3,000 bounty to anyone who could help it recruit skilled staff. It also said it would give £50,000 to anyone who could get it an entire Java programming team.

Entranet has said it is still offering the £3,000 bounty and is still recruiting, but revealed it never needed to pay £50,000 for a Java squad. The company never managed to grab a full team and now feels it doesn't need to pay out that much money for Java skills.

The company now employs just over 200 people. In a statement it has said turnover for the first half of the current financial year - ending in March - was £8.7 million, compared to £8.3 million for the whole of the previous year. It specialises in developing ebusinesses for the financial services industry.

The company declined to say what skills the redundant people have, but it is looking for staff with interactive digital TV experience. "Just great technology people," said a spokesman. ®