BT warns of job cuts amid soaring inflation

BT has warned of thousands of jobs cuts amid soaring inflation and rising energy bills. Hence, in wake of these challenges the company has revised its cost saving target to £3bn.

Target to save additional £500m

BT is a British multinational telecommunications company having its headquarters in London, England. It is operating in more than 180 countries. Moreover, it is one of the largest employer across the United Kingdom with a workforce of about 80,000 employees. Overall, it has a global workforce of 100,000 employees. The company has confirmed that have to save another £500m to manage its cash flows. This is in addition to the company’s initial target of £2.5bn. Furthermore, the company is committed to achieve this savings target by 2025. Therefore, BT has warned its employees of potential jobs cuts in future. However, these job cuts will apply to all its global workforce.

CEO’s stance

“We are leaving no stone unturned to make sure BT can be the most-efficient organization it can be. inevitably it means some jobs will not exist in the future but that has been true of the last few years too. We will use natural attrition as much as we can. In these difficult conditions we know we have to double down on our costs. There are no specific numbers in mind. This (cost-cutting program) is up until the end of 2025. Everyone has to share the pain – all 100,000 people at BT – to get to this £3bn on cost savings. BT’s chief executive Philip Jansen said in a statement.

Strike fears are also looming

The announcement from BT has sparked tensions among the unions. Moreover, BT is already facing a wave of strike action involving frontline staff. “BT’s talk about further cost cutting and shrinking the workforce concerns our members at a time when their morale is already at rock bottom. BT should reward our members with their fair share for the contribution they have made to the company’s continued success.” A Communication Workers Union spokesperson told Sky News. Previously, the telecommunication giant slashed 13,000 jobs as part of a previous cost reduction strategy in 2018.

Significantly, the job cuts at BT is a continuation of global tech job cuts. Many big tech firms including Amazon, Lyft, and Stripe have announced hiring freezes or job cuts.

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