Nokia launched a global redundancy programme starting with 1,300 job cuts in Finland and 1,400 in Germany, following its takeover of Alcatel-Lucent, while also citing “challenging market conditions” and a technology shift.
In France, the company said it will cut 400 jobs but add 500 new posts, in line with commitments made to the French government during the Alcatel-Lucent deal.
The Finnish firm said headcount reductions will occur between now and the end of 2018, but did not say where else the axe will fall geographically, or share any further numbers.
The company employs 6,850 people in Finland and nearly 105,000 globally.
In October last year it announced a target of €900 million in operating cost synergies to be achieved in full year 2018, although no mention of redundancies was made at the time.
The underlying cause of the job losses, Nokia said, related to the Alcatel-Lucent deal, which closed earlier this year. Reductions will come mainly in those areas where there are overlaps, such as R&D, regional and sales organizations as well as corporate functions.
In addition, the company said it is adapting to a tough marketplace and a shift in resources to 5G, the cloud and the Internet of Things.
Its cost-saving programme also targets savings in real estate services, procurement, supply chain and manufacturing.
Nokia managers are meeting today with the company’s two European Works Councils. Similar meetings and consultations with employee representatives will happen in almost 30 countries in the coming weeks, a statement said.
“When we announced the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent we made a commitment to deliver €900 million in synergies – and that commitment has not changed, said CEO Rajeev Suri.
“We also know that our actions will have real human consequences and, given this, we will proceed in a way that that is consistent with our company values and provide transition and other support to the impacted employees, ” he added.
[“source-mobileworldlive”]
