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Posts tagged Employees
Rumor: 30% of Motorola Mobility employees to be laid off following closed deal
May 22nd
If you haven’t heard the news, Chinese regulators have finally approved the acquisition that would see Google acquiring Motorola. It should all be in the books by the the end of this week as this was their last hurdle for closing the $12 billion deal. Most would think this is cause for celebration, but one group of people may not be rejoicing when it’s all said and done.
TechCrunch has apparently gotten word that Motorola and Google will be laying off around 30% of Motorola’s employees sometime after the sale is complete. That exact figure has since been removed, but the post still suggests layoffs will happen.
It’s an ugly part of business, but when two companies come together like the way Google and Motorola have, among many others, it happens. Whether it be due to efficiency, financial troubles, or other reasons for downsizing, it happens. We’ll know before too long if any of this is true, but for now it’s just a rumor.
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T-Mobile Gets Ready For Second Round of Layoffs – 900 Employees To Lose Their Jobs
May 16th
T-Mobile is getting ready for a second round of job cuts in which the number 4 carrier in the US plans to layoff 900 more of their employees across the US. The layoffs follow 10 consecutive quarters of customer contract losses and will should help T-Mo hold apply that $4 billion they recently acquired from AT&T to help rollout their upcoming 4G LTE network.
The cuts wont affect “front line” employees (those working at T-Mobile retail locations), but will hit those in which T-Mobile feels will help their new restructuring efforts. Those employees will be this notified this week with T-Mobile’s CEO Philip Humm sending out an email to employees saying:
Dear colleagues,
Since the beginning of the year, T-Mobile has stressed that 2012 is a rebuilding year for the company. A vital step in that process was announced in March with the consolidation of our call centers. This week, T-Mobile is taking the second essential step. We are announcing a new structure that further aligns our costs with our revenue realities, enables teams who support our field organization to act and react with greater speed and effectiveness to customer and market opportunities, and better positions us to return to growth.
The new organization required difficult decisions that will impact some of our employees. This week, news will be shared personally with employees and teams who are directly affected by the restructuring. Changes will include some position eliminations and changes to individual roles and responsibilities. It is important to emphasize these impacts to employees result from business decisions. We have tremendous employees here at T-Mobile and we truly wish we could retain all our talent, but our business realities require hard choices. For affected team members, we are providing generous transition support including severance, assistance with COBRA continuation coverage, and outplacement services. As mentioned in the March announcement, customer service representatives in the remaining 17 call centers, technicians in engineering, and frontline employees in our T-Mobile corporate-owned stores will not be affected.
Our rebuilt structure enables T-Mobile to realize significant savings, allowing us to invest in future growth – in particular modernizing our network to LTE, repositioning the T-Mobile brand, and aggressively pursuing the B2B segment where we plan to add 1,000 positions over the next few years. We gain the agility to put resources where the current opportunities are, grow in areas where potential is greatest, and act on emerging opportunities quickly and rationally.
The restructuring provides a sustainable organizational model, centered on our T-Mobile Values, with the following attributes:
- A greater focus on driving Customer Delight by reducing the layers between working teams and executive leadership, and shifting and consolidating groups in the field sales regions and the FSC to minimize redundant work – resulting in more effective coordination and communication.
- A renewed emphasis on Best Place to Perform and Grow:
- Enhanced people manager spans of control (number of direct reports), enabling faster decisions, more ability to execute, and more empowerment of employees at all levels.
- Evolution of our leadership model from player-coach, where more time is spent on daily tasks than on planning and guiding, to leader-coach, where time is focused more strategically on coaching, developing, delegating, and motivating.
We approached the restructuring process and decisions with care, rigor and cross-functional alignment. A team comprised of top leaders, with support from industry-leading subject matter experts, worked closely together over the past few months to develop an effective and sustainable structure. We strongly believe the organizational principles we applied are lasting ones. More details on the new organizational structure will be shared in department and team communications this week and more broadly after that.
I want to assure you we will move through the communications this week very thoughtfully, but also as quickly as we can while preserving the quality of the conversations that need to happen. As always, our T-Mobile Values will guide our actions.
Thank you for your patience as we work through what will be a difficult week. Thank you for your continued commitment.
With sincere appreciation,
Philipp Humm
CEO & President
T-Mobile USA
It was only 2 months ago, T-Mobile announced they would be shutting down 7 call centers in which 3,300 employees would be losing their jobs.
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New Apple Senior VP Of Retail John Browett Sends First Letter To Apple Store Employees
May 9th
New Apple Senior VP of Retail John Browett has taken his first significant action in his role by sending out a letter to all Apple and Apple Store employees saying how thrilled he was to be in his new role and how much he was looking forward to his time at Apple. He also stressed the importance of employees to Apple’s retail business, something which would have reassured many who were complaining about his appointment due to his slightly tarnished reputation from his time at Dixons.
The letter reads:
Team,
At last I’ve officialy started to work at Apple, and it’s great to be here. I’ve had the chance to meet many of you at stores in the U.S. and across Europe, and one of my top priorities for the coming months is to meet many more people on our team around the world.
It’s incredibly impressive to be on the inside of Apple Retail. Many of my friends, relatives, and former colleagues have written to tell me how lucky I am to be working with such a great group of people, and I couldn’t agree more. While our stores are fantastic and our products are amazing, it really is our people who make the difference in creating the best retail experience.
There will be much more to share weeks ahead, and I’m looking forward to meeting everyone over time.
I am thrilled to work with all of you as we build the future of Apple Retail together.
— John
His performance as VP of Retail will have to be judged over the coming months, even though he will have to work hard in order to enhance and restore the slightly negative reputation he has picked up, in large part down to his time at Dixons.
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Ron Johnson Continues To Hire Employees From Apple For JCPenney
Apr 27th
Former Apple Senior Retail VP, now the CEO of JC Penney, is continuing his raid on Apple’s employees after hiring Apple’s Benjamin Fay for store design and development, the same role he held at his old company. Before Fay, Mike Fisher made the switch from Apple, now holding the ‘Senior Vice President of Visual Presentation’ role at JC Penney.
“Ben [Fay] is an incredibly creative professional with extraordinary leadership skills. Having worked with him over the last 12 years, I am delighted to see Ben step into this new role at jcp,” said Johnson. “His design influence has made the Apple stores highly regarded retail destinations around the world, and I am excited to have Ben place his own mark on jcp as we re-imagine the jcpenney store of the future.”
With these departures, we will have to see if new Apple Senior Retail VP John Browett decides to bring in some of his own staff as replacements, and at the moment, that seems pretty likely.
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T-Mobile to Close 7 Call Centers; Affecting 3,300 Employees
Mar 22nd
Well isn’t this the season of closing call centers or what? After hearing unfortunate news that Verizon had to close three call centers, T-Mobile looks to be doing the same. They’re closing seven call centers nationwide.
Allentown, Pennsylvania; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Frisco, Texas; Brownsville, Texas; Lenexa, Kansas; Thornton, Colorado; and Redmond, Oregon are the cities affected. Some 3,300 employees will be affected by the move, but not all stand to lose their jobs.
T-Mobile’s offering relocation packages to fill 1,400 more positions in other call centers around the country, but that still leaves 1,900 people out of work. Those 1,900 people won’t be too much out of luck, though, as T-Mobile will offer severance packages and outplacement support. T-Mobile will also provide two months of health insurance under COBRA.
It’s hard to take news like this but the best you can hope for is a company who will support you through it, and we’re thankful T-Mobile is doing just that.
T-Mobile is also expected to make more corporate changes in May, but call center reps, technicians and retail employees of T-Mobile corporate retail stores will not be affected. Read on for the full memo reportedly sent to employees by CEO Philip Humm. [via TmoNews]
Dear colleagues,
I have difficult news to share today: we are consolidating our call center operations and closing seven of our 24 facilities. This decision was not easily reached, but it is a necessary measure. The reality is our cost structure must be better optimized to match our customer base and call volumes.
The affected Customer Service facilities are Allentown, Pennsylvania; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Frisco, Texas; Brownsville, Texas; Lenexa, Kansas; Thornton, Colorado; and Redmond, Oregon. The consolidations will result in 1,900 net job reductions. Approximately 3,300 employees at the seven impacted facilities will be affected, and we will begin hiring immediately at the remaining 17 call centers to fill as many as 1,400 positions.
Impacted call centers will remain open for three months following this announcement. Affected customer service representatives will have the option to transfer to any of the remaining 17 call centers. Employees who choose not to transfer and are employed on the date the center closes, will be offered transition packages with severance pay and outplacement support. T-Mobile is partnering with an outplacement firm to provide on-site career centers at all seven facilities. Every employee will have access to a personal career coach and be offered job search training and tools. In addition, T-Mobile will pay for two months of continued health care coverage under COBRA (which is available for up to 18 months for eligible employees who elect this option).
Looking ahead, we will also be restructuring other parts of the company. It is important to note this will not include our customer service representatives in the remaining 17 call centers, technicians in engineering or front line employees in our T-Mobile corporate-owned stores. In other parts of the organization, the majority of changes will be announced by the end of May 2012. Senior leaders are intently focused on making the best possible choices standing on the foundation of our shared T-Mobile Values. The outcome will be an organization that is structured efficiently and closer to the customer. Leaders will share more information as plans evolve.
These are not easy steps to take – or, I know, to read. We must address our business realities so we can focus on getting T-Mobile back to growth.
Our commitment, as we go through this process, is to provide clear perspective and understandable rationale, be forthright in our communications regarding our decisions, and be respectful and compassionate in our treatment of affected individuals.
Thank you for your ongoing commitment and support.
With sincere appreciation,
Philipp Humm
CEO & President
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