Spark confirms job cuts as Vodafone downsizes

Both Spark and Vodofone have confirmed they will be cutting jobs. File photo / Dean Purcell

Spark confirmed today that it would be cutting jobs as rival Vodafone New Zealand announced it would shed a significant number of staff before March.

Spark spokesman Andrew Pirie said the company would be cutting jobs in its "Connect" technical department, but would not comment on exact numbers, other than to say that rumours it would be around 400 or up to 20 per cent of the team, were well off the mark.

"We informed staff last week that there would be some job losses but I can't comment on the exact number other than to say that the rumours of it being around 400 are completely misguided, and that it will be nowhere near that high," Pirie said.

Pirie noted the cuts were being made in an effort to be more efficient within the business and added that the company would be doing its best to minimise the number of staff affected. He said cuts would only be from certain sections of the one team.

The news comes on the back of a statement from Vodafone stating that the company would be looking to cut up to 250 of its permanent staff members as well as a significant number of its contractors by the end of the financial year.

Both companies stated increased demand for low prices and competition as major pressures in their decisions to cut jobs.

Vodafone said it was planning to cut between 200 and 250 permanent roles by March, says a spokesman.

This comes less than a month after the telco denied there would be major job cuts within the business, following internal speculation and concern among staff.

Head of external communications Craig Jones said the company was working to integrate across the business in a move which would result in improved cohesion within the company, but was resulting in significant restructuring.

"To achieve this we are rebalancing the resources within our organisation, which will result in approximately 200 to 250 redundancies of permanent roles by the end of the [March 2015] financial year," Jones said.

"This will be across management, back office functions and operations."

On top of the permanent role cuts, Jones said the company would also be reducing a significant number of contractors, but would be minimising the redundancies as much as possible.

The company held a meeting a few weeks ago where staff were told the company was looking to cut a number of management positions, with the head of customer care saying this number could be as high as 300.

Jones confirmed the initial round of redundancies had been completed last week with a number of people leaving on Friday.

Vodafone said last month that it would be reducing the number of contractors, as the TelstraClear merger came to a close.

The company said it was looking to cut down on job and systems double-ups.

Vodafone purchased rival telco TelstraClear more than two years ago for $840 million.

A source last month said the merger was far from complete.

Vodafone reported a full-year loss of $27.9 million.

The result was its first full-year loss since 2000.

Jones said the company had been tracking well overall but increased competition had put pressure on the business.

"As we have worked to integrate TelstraClear over the last two years, Vodafone has invested significantly in removing systems and process duplication within the new organisation, as well as in improving the way we support and service our customers," he said.

"While our underlying performance is solid and we continue to outpace our key competitors, the last 18 months has seen unprecedented levels of competition in both mobile and fixed line services in New Zealand."

According to Jones, the company would not be closing any of its call centres in New Zealand.

He said the company's main focus was now on supporting its team through the changes being made within the company.