Shaw staff shrinks 25% in transition to digital

Shaw Communications Inc. will eliminate 25 per cent of its workforce after about 3,300 employees accepted buyouts, five times more departures than originally anticipated as the company charts its path into a digital future.

The Calgary-based communications giant announced Thursday the results of its voluntary buyout program, stating 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 packages to 6,500 employees in late January. At the time, it said it expected only 650 employees to accept the offer.

But Shaw’s workforce of about 13,200 employees will shrink to 9,900 after the high uptake of the generous packages that offered six months pay plus one month for every year of service. Starting in fiscal 2020, Shaw expects to save $225 million annually due to reduced labour expenses.

“It’s a hard first step, but it enables (us to do) what we intended,” Shaw President Jay Mehr said in an interview.

The number of departing employees fell within expectations, Mehr said. Shaw is confident it can manage the pace of change, as it will control when employees leave over an 18-month transition period.

“The take-up that we have in this first phase means that we won’t have to do cuts later on.”

Employees at all levels accepted the packages, including 25 per cent of management, Mehr said.

“This package is the first that we know of where the kind of packages that were normally reserved for senior executives have been made available to everyone,” he said.

Some Shaw employees who remain in Western offices said the departures will increase pressure on them to perform. But Mehr said the vast majority of employees he’s spoken with feel good about the transition whether they chose to stay or go. There’s a company-wide recognition that Shaw needs to adapt as consumers go digital.

“Canadians are clear in how they interact with Google and Netflix and Amazon that they want to interact digitally,” he said. “The growth in this country is in new world approaches to business, not old world approaches to business, and we’re going to be part of that growth story.”