Optus hangs up on 750 staff
Creates new division for customer care, with less
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Optus is slashing 750 positions over the next few months as part of a significant business restructure.
Roles will be made redundant from senior and middle management in addition to operations, back office and support functions. It is unclear if the job cuts are on top of the 700 job cuts announced last March or are part of the restructure at parent company Singtel announced last February. Optus PR folks have not responded to an email seeking clarification.
The carrier said that the cost cutting drive would attract a one off charge of approximately $37 million.
Optus revealed that it will restructure its customer service operations with the creation of a customer division, responsible for managing all aspects of customer relations. The revamped division will be supported by new marketing and sales divisions and will serve to centralise a number of other key functions, including commercial, human resources and strategy.
“By creating a more efficient organisation with a renewed focus on the customer, we will be able to compete more effectively. When combined with our reinvigorated Optus brand and stronger mobile network, these changes will put us in an even stronger position,”said Kevin Russell, Chief Executive Officer, Consumer Australia.
He added that while sustainable cost structures were paramount , a key driver of the restructure was the desire to “elevate the voice of our ten million customers to ensure they are heard loud and clear in every area of our business .”
In the press release issued last Sunday to announce its new free broadband offer, the telco's Director of Fixed, Anthony Shiner, said the company "recently re-evaluated the Optus brand and our products to ensure we continue to provide Australians with superior choice and competition when it comes to telecommunications." Presumably the subsequent announcement will help to deliver on those promises.
The restructure comes just weeks after Optus’ outsourced customer service provider, India’s Tech Mahindra announced that it would be expanding its Sydney based headquarters, pledging to create hundreds of new jobs over the next three to five years to support local clients.®
COMMENTS
If only they could get their payment systems working
Optus should devote more time to getting back office systems working properly. They still cannot seem to setup automatic payments that actually work! Removing network blackspots (and making the network more reliable) would also be welcome. But no, it's just going to be harder to find anybody that knows anything, and the time on wait on the phone wil be longer. Sigh!
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