Shaw employees take buyout
Communications giant sees 3,300 workers take deal as company shifts business model
Shaw Communications Inc. will eliminate 25 per cent of its workforce after approximately 3,300 employees accepted buyouts.
The Calgary-based communications giant said Thursday it expects to take a $450-million charge in the second quarter of fiscal 2018 in relation to the massive restructuring. That includes severance and other employee costs, as well as expenses for the initiative it’s calling a “total business transformation.”
Shaw offered the voluntary buyout packages to 6,500 employees in late January as the company shifts from primarily a cable and satellite TV business to one that offers internet and wireless. At the time, it said it expected only 650 employees to accept the offer.
Shaw’s total workforce of about 13,200 employees will shrink to 9,900 after the 18-month transition period. Starting in fiscal 2020, it expects to save $225 million annually due to reduced labour expenses.
“Shaw has built decades of success by being a company that adapts well and shapes its future,” Shaw president Jay Mehr said in a statement.
“We are making the necessary changes to better serve our customers through a lean, integrated and more agile workforce.”
The number of departing employees falls within what Shaw expected so it expects business to run as usual. The changes shouldn’t affect customers, as the majority of customer-facing employees were not eligible to take a buyout.
“We made the difficult but necessary decision to modernize our wireline and satellite businesses by offering a generous package to those people who helped us build Shaw and chose not to join us in this transformative period of growth,” Mehr said.
“We thank all our employees for the contributions they have made to this organization and we thank each of them for their dedication to our customers.”
Shaw also announced the departure of its chief financial officer Vito Culmone as part of the restructuring, which also consolidates executives’ responsibilities. Culmone will leave the organization in May and be replaced by Trevor English, who will become executive vice president, CFO and corporate development officer. English was previously the executive vice-president, chief strategy and business development officer.