Nokia is preparing to cut costs and jobs in France with over 1,200 jobs soon to be eliminated by the Finnish leader in telecommunications. This comes as part of a larger wave to cut costs that have already occurred in various other countries around the world as the initiative began in 2018. The efforts are being put into place as a method “to strengthen the company’s competitive position and secure long-term performance,” a Nokia spokesman explained in a statement.
These cuts come during a time where other wireless companies are facing similar employment challenges of their own. The deal to acquire Sprint was met with great criticism when T-Mobile looked to purchase its wireless competitor. One of the fears in any acquisition is the loss of jobs; however, ex-CEO John Legere was confident that T-Mobile would rather add jobs instead of taking jobs away. However, it appears that the new CEO Mike Sievert and changing economic conditions may have other plans as the company is expecting to lay off hundreds of Sprint employees. AT&T is also facing its own set of lay-offs as the communications pioneer recently announced it was cutting thousands of jobs from its workforce as a cost-cutting measure and adjustment to the consumer behavior that COVID-19 pandemic is affecting.
Nokia’s plans to sever jobs may be part of a multi-year plan to reduce costs and centralize work functions, but it comes at a time in which the company has seen a loss in sales in the first quarter of the year. Still, there are many different councils and union representatives that will review these plans before the company finalizes anything. While the loss of employment will no doubt come at an especially inopportune time with a global economy still working to survive the ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic, Nokia has committed itself to help those affected and intends, “to introduce support programs to help employees transition to new positions or careers as much as possible,” according to their spokesman.
Around a third of the jobs, these layoffs are affecting come from the Alcatel-Lucent International unit which was acquired by Nokia in 2016. French unions are scrutinizing Nokia because as part of the terms to complete the merger, Nokia ensured that the merger would not cost workers their jobs and expand functions such as research and development. Kristian Pullola, Nokia’s CFO, mentioned in April that the company was on course to meet its objective of saving €500 million for the year.
Source: Fierce Wireless