T-Mobile Cutting Staff?

[getti]

T-Mobile is cutting jobs in a wide-ranging restructure of the business, including a reduction in the indirect sales team.

The restructure is part of a cost-cutting plan in what operators are describing as one of the toughest trading periods in recent years. The plan also reflects T-Mobile's intention to become less reliant on the independent channel and its ongoing moves to cut costs.

Sources claim the 14-man indirect team has been reduced to five. The changes also include personnel at T-Mobile's b2b 'Business Partner' programme, which is believed to have been left with only one person.

A T-Mobile spokeswoman said redundancies would take place, but disputed the figures suggested and wouldn't comment further.

The company said in January this year that redundancies would be imminent: 'Like all successful companies in highly competitive industries, T-Mobile aims to ensure that it remains efficient in all areas of the business.'

Distributors are also speculating that T-Mobile is in the process of reviewing its indirect distribution partners. Two distributors Mobile contacted said they expected T-Mobile to cut the number of distributors it uses in the coming months. T-Mobile declined to comment on the possible move.

T-Mobile currently sells monthly contracts through Anglia, Avenir, Dextra, Hugh Symons and Fone Logistics.

Separately, T-Mobile confirmed that it has renewed business with online retailer Dial-A-Phone after it ended its relationship with the former online giant in June 2006.

http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/content...sp?men=2&sub=6

[Ben]

Yet more signs of the T-Mobile business transforming and throwing off its old shackles. It's amazing how, in my own perception, they have modernised so well.

Shame about the redundancies, though

[Hands0n]

Redundancies are never a good thing - not for the people affected nor, generally, the company performing them. There is a tangible loss of human intellectual property in the process. A bit like burning library books. The resource, once gone, is rarely [if ever] replaceable. It is a shame, then, that these cannot be relocated in the business to make it grow and become more profitable in the face of competition. Redundancies, then, are more of a retreat into the balance sheet than a practical benefit. Works on paper, rarely in fact, unless the business is in trouble financially and is going down anyway.

I do think that the move away from the distribution channel will be to T-Mobile's benefit. They are then able to not only benefit from the margin that the channel gets, but also keep the T-Mobile sales and support ethic intact (no dodgy distributors affecting the brand).

T-Mobile have done a lot of things right recently - so much so they've won my business from a position where I woud not even countenance the thought a while ago. Their tariffs and prodct (handset and network) appeal and, more imporantly, work well.

These are tough and competitive times - and I lament the [often first] decision to jettison staff rather than look to ways to improve profitability by re-using their staff effectively.

[Ben]

I think, unfortunately, it's just a matter of fact that older companies need to evolve and shift their focus in order to survive and remain competitive, and unfortunately the workforce involved in areas no longer concentrated on can become surpless to requirements and/or simply not have the skills to be transferred to newer areas of the business. That doesn't make the experience any better for those in the line of fire, though.

Perhaps they could have made efficiencies to prevent this. I guess, on the outside, we'll never know!

[Hands0n]

True, Ben, as outsiders we cannot truly know what went on. Things on planet Earth started to go rather wrong when we started to call staff "Human Resources", like so much paperclips, staples and biro pens. The very term "Human Resources" has a distinctly unpleasant odour to it in my book! Very WW2 German ....... It de-persons the individual into so much material rather than recognising them as a sentient being with needs, feelings, ambitions and aspirations....

However, it is my experience that [very often] the decision to make redundancies originates from the Finance Director. An edict goes out something along the lines of ".... we must make financial efficiences and so we look to each department to trim its workforce by X% ....." where "X" is often an arbitrary factor.

In one case I can relate to "X" was 40%!! The damage done to the firm where branches or departments actually achieved the "40% stretch" [as it was termed] did huge damage to productivity and customer efficiency. Many that were let go had to be brought back as external contractors! But because they appeared on a different budget line - and one that was Corporation Tax-deductible - the FD was happy!

Its a funny old world, Finance. It bears little-to-no relation to the physical world nor the impact that it can have on it!

You can probably tell that I am not a particular fan .....

Wow been a while since I've posted here.

The most significant change of personal within Tmobile is they're getting rid of the crappy Sitel agency staff. Sitel are based in Kingston and they're an outsource company who provide customer service to people like Tmobile - and they're crap. Honestly, ask anyone in TM.

They understand very little about our way of working and the number of disgruntled customers they send through to us is incredible. As soon as you ask them something they don't like or understand, they transfer them to us. So much so that some of their usual channels of transfer had been cut off in an effort to reduce their 'waste'.

I hate to see anyone lose their jobs and I hope they all get employment soon. But well away from Tmobile.

[Hands0n]

Thats interesting, another example of an outsource that doesn't quite cut it! No surprises there then. History will not judge outsourcing kindly, but I fear we have a long way to go yet until that particular day arrives.