BT Group wants to reduce its workforce by 40,000 to 55,000 employees by the decade’s end.
The upcoming layoffs at BT Group will affect direct BT employees and third-party contractors, resulting in a reduction of 31-42 per cent in the company’s overall staffing.
The move comes as the company finalises its nationwide fibre-optic deployment and adapts emerging technologies like AI.
BT employs 130,000 people, including third-party contractors, but after the axeman has finished his work, this figure will be 75,000-90,000 individuals.
CEO Philip Jansen has been reducing headcount as part of his efforts to increase profitability in recent years. The aim is to achieve annual savings of £3 billion by the end of 2025, compared to the company’s cost base in 2020. BT says it has successfully attained £2.1 billion in cost savings out of its £3 billion target.
Jansen says the “new” BT Group will transform into “a leaner business” due to the cuts. A considerable portion of the upcoming dismissals will stem from completing the full-fibre rollout, in which the Group has invested substantial money.
BT is upgrading its national network from copper-based connections to fibre connections, to make this infrastructure accessible to 25 million households by the end of 2026.
Once this upgrade is complete and internal systems have been enhanced, the need for so many engineers and technicians will decrease.
“This is an existing plan, we’re just announcing it and giving people a flavour of the landing zone in five to seven years’ time,” Jansen said.
Additionally, approximately 10,000 roles will be eliminated through increased digitisation and automation throughout BT.
“Whenever you get new technologies, you can get big changes. Generative AI . . . gives us confidence we can go even further.”
