Singtel to cut 750 jobs in Australia

Optus said the downsizing will come from the senior and middle management, operations, back office and support functions.

Optus announced a major restructure of its business designed to drive greater efficiencies and give customers a stronger voice.

The new structure will see the creation of a customer division responsible for managing all aspects of Optus’ relationship with its customers throughout the lifetime of their service. It will be supported by the creation of new marketing and sales divisions to support the Optus branded business, and the centralisation of a number of other key functions, including commercial, human resources and strategy.

The restructure will also see Optus rationalise a number of operational, back office and administrative functions to drive greater efficiencies in response to the increasingly competitive trading environment.

By moving to a more streamlined and centralised structure, Optus will remove a number of areas of duplication. As a result, Optus is proposing to make approximately 750 roles redundant over the coming months with an associated one off charge of approximately $37 million. The majority of these roles will come from senior and middle management as well as operations, back office and support functions. To maintain its customer focus, minimal customer facing staff will be directly affected by today’s announcement.

Kevin Russell, Chief Executive Officer, Consumer Australia said, “The competitive environment requires Optus to have a sustainable cost structure to remain competitive and continue to deliver value to our customers. However, a key driver of the restructure has been a 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 our service delivery and support; in the products and services we bring to market; and in the consistent experience we provide across all our sales channels.

“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 to provide our customers with an exceptional and rewarding experience, while at the same time driving sustainable growth for our business,” Mr. Russell said.