Telstra to expedite restructuring efforts

Telecoms group Telstra is set to fast-track restructuring efforts six months earlier than originally planned. The company issued fresh guidance on its T22 program for downsizing the business.

Telstra said it will push through with 6,000 of the 9,500 planned job cuts ahead of schedule, incurring $200m in costs as a result of the layoffs. It is aiming to complete about 75% of its direct workforce role reductions at the close of financial year 2019, CEO Andy Penn said in the guidance.

The company is also streamlining operations and upgrading legacy IT infrastructure with newer systems. The retrenchment costs include $500m in write-offs for outdated software and hardware. Among the enterprise IT platforms expected to be overhauled or migrated to the cloud are financial, HR, customer service and product support systems, ITNews.com reported.

“We understand the significant impact on our people and the uncertainty created by these changes,” Penn said. “We are doing everything we can to support our people through the change and this includes the up to $50m we have committed to a Transition program that provides a range of services to help people move into a new role.”

“We will continue to see role reductions as we replace our legacy systems, digitise and simplify how we work, and respond to things like declining [National Broadband Network] and call volumes, but if a final decision is made on the proposal announced today we expect the majority of our T22 restructure will be behind us,” he said.