Vodafone announces largest layoff round in company history, 11,000 jobs to be axed

Jobs in the UK, Germany, and Italy are included in the three-year cost-saving plans

Trade

Image: Shutterstock via Future

16 May 2023

Vodafone is to axe 11,000 jobs over the next three years, its most extensive redundancy measures in the company’s history.

The cuts follow worse-than-expected financial figures and will impact more than 10% of its roughly 100,000 employees worldwide.

Roles in its UK, German and Italian HQs are expected to be affected by the layoffs, and additional roles in Spain are under review.

“Our performance has not been good enough,” said CEO Margherita Della Valle. “My priorities are customers, simplicity and growth. We will simplify our organisation, cutting out complexity to regain our competitiveness.”

The telco’s revenue has fallen across key European markets but still grew by 0.3% year-on-year as a result of positive outcomes in Africa and in its equipment sales.

Della Valle also stated that Vodafone has not performed well in comparison to its competitors, and linked this to worsening customer experience.

“We’re targeting a significant reduction in central functions, which we started in January – stopping shared operations activities with unproven business cases – and we will also simplify our operations in the markets,” a Vodafone UK spokesperson told ITPro.

Della Valle said that Vodafone Business has a strong position in Europe and can grow here, and highlighted its “world-leading” Internet of Things (IoT) expertise.

Reports earlier in the year had suggested Vodafone was seeking job cuts as part of plan to save €1 billion by 2026.

In December, former CEO Nick Read stepped down amid rocky financials leading to the appointment of then-CFO Della Valle as interim CEO.

Read More: jobs Vodafone