Soon after their merger, a large number of job losses are being felt by Sprint employees. In a conference call that has been obtained by Tech Crunch, T-Mobile vice president James Kirby told thousands of Sprint employees that their services were no longer required.
In a blog post reported by The Verge, T-Moblie spun the job losses in the context of restructuring. It stated that the company needed “to ensure that we focus our resources in the places where our customers need us the most.” Even going as far as to say many would see “additional career opportunities”.
Merger quickly causes job losses
Many feared restructuring when the merger between T-Mobil and Sprint which eventually went through in May.
However, this is a particularly quick move from to offload so many so quickly. The companies are stilling insisting that the merger will create more jobs than it will get rid of. However, for those struck off now, that will be of little comfort.
From the thousands that saw their jobs disappear Kirby has been quoted as saying 200 jobs will be created. This is at least something but will still leave a huge number without employment going forwards. Employees have two months notice before they are laid off under the WARN Act.
One source has informed Tech Crunch that the severance package amounts to two weeks of pay per year of employment.
Some may get more but this still seems like a rather meagre offering for employees. Every division was hit by the job cuts but it seems that the BISO sector was hit the hardest.
Employees Are Left Frustrated
Naturally, a number of employees are not happy about the decision. One pointed out that they felt “the company needs to acknowledge the pain they are putting people through during a pandemic”.
Indications suggest that the consolidation of jobs will impact around 30,000 contracts across America.
The merger between Sprint and T-Mobile took a long time to get rubber-stamped. After intense regulatory scrutiny, it finally got approval last month. During the negotiations then chief executive John Legere claimed that by 2024 the merger would create 11,000 jobs.
This looks to be a tall order given the economic impacts of Covid-19 that will be felt over the coming months.
Additionally, for those hit in the short-term the idea of jobs in four years time will be of little comfort to them. Hopefully, T-Mobile can find a solution this which pleases more people than it currently is.