Optus: major employment upheaval at the telecommunications giant with the dismissal of 150 call center employees
Optus is set to lay off more than a third of its staff at a call center in Adelaide.
Around 150 of the 400 workers at its North Terrace office will be out of work within four weeks, with the telecommunications company saying the job cuts will “strengthen our business”.
Some workers were reportedly told their layoff plans could be affected if they spoke to the media about the mass layoffs.
But those who spoke anonymously 7News said they were amazed, because the company hired and trained new staff there just a few months ago.
Employees are also questioning whether the job cuts are designed to cut costs as Optus faces a class action on behalf of 100,000 of its customers affected by a massive data breach in September 2022.
In a move that has shocked employees, Optus is set to lay off more than a third of its call center staff in Adelaide. Call center workers are photographed
In a cautiously worded statement, an Optus spokesperson said the company “continually evaluates our organizational structure to ensure it is the right one to meet the needs of our customers.”
The statement added that the telecommunications giant had “recently undertaken a review and taken steps to simplify our business while continuing to invest in areas we know are important to our customers.”
“As part of this review, we are reorganizing teams, which will impact certain roles within our business. »
In words that will provide little comfort to workers heading into a dark Christmas, the spokesperson also said: “This has been a difficult decision to make, but necessary to strengthen our business.
Optus said it would attempt to redeploy some staff whose roles were eliminated, with some already being offered positions in other states.
The mass layoffs come five months after Optus was hit by Australia’s largest-ever hacking scandal, in which private information, including key identity documents, was compromised and, in some cases, stolen.
Approximately 20 terabytes of data were inappropriately accessed, including names, dates of birth, phone numbers and email addresses of current and former customers.
A subset of the 9.8 million affected customers also had their addresses and identity document numbers compromised.
Affected customers have since launched a class action with Slater and Gordon.
Around 150 of the 400 workers at its North Terrace office will be out of work within four weeks, with Optus saying the job cuts will “strengthen our business”. The Optus logo is shown
