UPC plans to cut around 160 jobs
UPC Switzerland's turnaround plan is having an impact on its workforce. The cable network operator plans to cut about 10 percent of its 1,600 jobs, a spokeswoman said Friday in response to inquiries regarding related media reports.
This means that around 160 jobs are at risk. "UPC is committed to achieving reductions through natural attrition and measures such as internal transfers or early retirements wherever possible. UPC will make every effort to minimize the number of employee layoffs or terminations," UPC spokeswoman Stephanie Niggli continued. "However, UPC cannot avoid layoffs."
At this time, however, it is not possible to give a final number of redundancies, he said, as the focus is on a reduction through natural attrition. "We intend to have the final operating model defined by the end of April 2020 and currently expect to reduce the number of jobs in our organization by about 10 percent," Niggli said. In total, UPC Switzerland employs 1600 people, he said.
Various areas across all functions and levels are affected by the layoffs. UPC has a social plan that applies to the affected employees in the event of redundancies. This social plan was concluded jointly with UPC's social partners. As required, UPC has informed the employment offices of the affected cantons about the layoffs, Niggli said.
Broken deal with Sunrise not the trigger
UPC launched the turnaround one and a half years ago in order to achieve better business figures. However, the cable network operator has not yet been able to stop the downward slide. Last year, sales fell by a further 3.5 percent to CHF 1.25 billion. At least it succeeded in significantly slowing the decline in subscriber numbers. After losing around 153,000 subscriptions in 2018, the loss last year amounted to 68,000.
The collapsed deal with Sunrise was not the trigger for the cutbacks, Niggli said. "These measures were already part of UPC's growth plan from the beginning to further simplify and digitize the business - which would have been done regardless of this or any other strategic event."
The purchase of UPC by Sunrise was canceled at the end of October (Werbewoche.ch reported). The CHF 6.3 billion deal failed due to opposition from Sunrise's major shareholders led by Germany's Freenet, which owns just under a quarter of Sunrise's shares. (SDA)
