Nokia Siemens Networks to cut 450 jobs in Finland

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The Finnish-based telecommunications equipment supplier Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) announced on Thursday that it plans to cut 450 jobs in Finland. Statutory co-determination talks are to be launched on Wednesday next week.
     
Staff will be reduced in all company’s offices in Finland: in the Greater Helsinki area, Tampere, and Oulu.
      The company estimated to the Finnish News Agency STT that most of the reductions will take place in the capital area.
      According to Pekka Soini, the head of NSN’s operations in Finland, the Oulu factory will not be affected.
      The planned job cuts are to be made mainly in network support services both on the corporate level and in the business units, Soini reports.
     
”The units to be affected include financial administration, communications, marketing, internal information technology, and internal process development”, Soini notes.
      Some of the operations could be outsourced.
      ”Absolutely, outsourcing will be on the agenda and it will be resorted to if such an area is found where it could be beneficial”, Soini adds.
     
The employer’s announcement came as no surprise to Chief Shop Steward Pentti Arpalahti. The lay-off of 450 employees largely confirms his own estimate of the overall reduction.
      ”My previous estimate of around 1,000 employees would seem to be in line with the announcement”, Arpalahti notes.
     
The shop steward is not enthusiastic about potential outsourcing of jobs.
      However, the voluntary severance package offered by the employer is a positive move, Arpalahti feels, hoping that such a package could be introduced as soon as possible.
      Arpalahti notes further that employees would agree to a reduction of working hours.
      ”We have said that we could introduce such a scheme - in the spirit of Germany”, Arpalahti adds.
      Nevertheless, the employer is not enthusiastic about such a solution. ”They have always rejected such an idea”, Arpalahti notes.
     
The plan to cut jobs is part of the cost-cutting programme that the company announced in November 2009. The aim is to reduce the company’s operating costs globally by EUR 500 million by the end of 2011.
      According to Pekka Soini, the current cost-cutting requirement is just the first phase. He says that more such measures are needed.
     
”The purpose is to reduce around 7-9 per cent of the entire personnel. The present 450 cuts in Finland are less than 10 per cent of the overall target”, Soini continues.
      Currently, NSN has a global work force of approximately 64,000 employees in 150 countries. In other words, the required reduction is some 4,500 to 5,800 employees.
      Pekka Soini says that the greatest impact of the reduction will be experienced in Finland and in Germany, as the company has the highest numbers of staff in these two countries.
     
A joint venture between Siemens and Nokia started its operations in the spring of 2007.
      Right from the outset, the company has been axeing thousands of jobs.
      Prior to the upcoming co-determination talks, NSN has already cut some 1,400 jobs in Finland alone in the course of two and a half years.
      Since the beginning of October 2009, the Chief Executive Officer of Nokia Siemens Networks has been Rajeev Suri.
     
The current number of NSN’s employees in Finland is some 7,500, of whom roughly 4,250 work in the capital area, some 2,250 in Oulu, and around 1,000 in Tampere.
      The largest NSN staff complement is in Germany, where the company has some 10,000 employees.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Nokia Siemens Networks to close Espoo factory and cut 560 jobs in Finland (11.2.2009)

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  Nokia Siemens Networks

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