Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
MOBILE NETWORK COMPANY Three has today announced a restructuring plan that will involve at least 160 job losses at its headquarters and among retail staff.
In total, 85 people in the Dublin head office will be made redundant and in retail there will be 75 job losses. Workers in the head office were told of the redundancies this morning but it has not yet been decided which retail stores will be affected. It is understood that they will be assessed over the coming months.
On top of this, Three said a number of fixed term contracts across the business will not be extended when they expire.
The company said these changes are being made to address duplication in roles that occurred since its recent acquisition of O2.
A “generous redundancy package” of six weeks ex-gratia payment plus two weeks statutory per year of service is to be provided for departing staff as well as appropriate outplacement support.
Making the announcement today, the company also said it plans to create 90 permanent customer care roles in Limerick over the next 12 months and some contract staff in this office will be made permanent.
Commenting on the news, CEO of Three Ireland, Robert Finngan said:
These staffing changes are designed to redirect resources to enhance service and to ensure an efficient network that best serves our customer needs. We had signalled that integrating two businesses would inevitably result in some duplication of roles, and whereas we can’t side-step that challenge, we can and will ensure that departing staff are treated fairly and generously.
“We are pleased at the same time to be able to create new roles as we bring all customer-facing customer care roles back to Ireland,” he added. “Additionally, we are confident that our planned €300m investment in our high speed network will require up to 100 full time equivalent roles through third party contractors over the coming three years.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Can they define customer facing? Is that just retail as in physically facing or do they mean their call centres ? Anyone know? Sorry to say but Three’s Indian call centres are a nightmare to deal with. I have never been able to get an issue sorted with them . Companies dealing with Irish customers should have Irish call centres and keep jobs in the country as much as possible.
Their call centres are a nightmare. I hate dealing with them. Every encounter I’ve had with them has involved at least half an hour on the phone and always ends in “Please turn the modem off for five minutes and then turn it back on”. And God help you if you have a question that forces the poor bloke on the other end to deviate from his script; I’ve learned that it just isn’t worth the bother. My contract’s up in November and I’ll be finished with Three for good then. Bog standard internet with a God-awful call centre.
Companies are in the business of making money. They will look to reduce costs where possible. It makes complete sense for them to move. Unless and until people vote with their feet and move provider, then they will continue to go down the lowest common denominator router.
All very true .
All so true, try asking for a supervisor that’s when it becomes a real joke
“…Thank you for holding. Your call is important to us. Some calls may be recorded for playback at our wild, drunken Christmas parties.”
You should fight harder with them, I got out of my contact with them in December after a few months of pure hell with them, it was the best thing to ever happen, keep harassing them everyday, phone them, email them, tweet them all the time and they will give you what you want, make such a fuss that you get to speak to a proper English speaking person, like someone In the head quarters
Will 3 and O2 be twice as bad now that they have merged?????…..
Once 02′s customer service is outsourced it will be just as bad.
There is a lot if confusion in the comments here , the additional 90 jobs being created in customer care is so the 02 team in Limerick get increases and the Indian customer care currently used for. 3 is to be relocated back to ireland , not the other way round as some comments are suggesting
6 weeks redundancy package…. in this environment that is an absolutely gold plated redundancy deal.
Was away in wexford last year, couldn’t get a signal on mobile broadband, phoned customer support and the Indian agent asked me to computer outside and see if the signal was any stronger! I told no! It’s raining, the laptop is plugged in.
“well if you unplug and use umbrella, you should get better signal”
Unbelievable!
and so it begins,
I said Three will be getting rid of people as soon as this deal was approved and people claimed I was wrong, well people this is the start of Three getting rid of people.
Expect O2′s customer support in Ireland to be shutdown within the next two years or so, Three don’t like paying alot for telephone support reps.
I think everyone expected job losses not only on duplication of roles but also on the fact that O2 employees were only guaranteed their jobs for a certain amount if time .18 months I think .
All of Three’s customer care are operators based in India on peanut wages. While I was waiting for them to check some details, the operator actually asked me, ‘Whats the weather like in Ireland today?’
It’s almost as if he could see your address on your account info screen! Tin foil hats at the ready!
Are the departing employees being given the opportunity to be drafted to the new ‘customer facing’ roles?
If they are qualified im sure they can apply
When you out source customer service to a third world country the customers believes they get a third class service. No matter how highly trained customers want local solutions not someone 5,000 miles away
Three reception is terrible, as soon as you leave Dublin the bars just disappear
Not true. I get a 3G service the whole way from Drogheda to listowel! Vodafone doesn’t even have that!
I have said this befour and no doubt will have to say it again…tech industries are predisposed to walking. Invest in Iriah culture and industry that is less likely to walk. Rember Dell …
What you pay what you get people. Its your money…. your problem. you want to spend less want more thats what you get.And tell me any customer service you loved. I called UPC other day and they don’t give rats and they just don’t care and its so wrong if I change my plan out of contact with UPC they will sign me up for 1 year again bcos I changed my plan.Its awfull. So deal with it don’t expect to have a Quality thing when u pay little.
Charlie UPCs customer service is deluxe compared to Threes it has to be said . I’m no cheerleader of UPC in general but they are a main employer in Limerick . I have had mixed experiences with them . Putting you into a new contract with a plan change is common practise mobile phone companies do it too. I have had some good customer service experiences . Most recently with Argos. They did exceed my expectations lol .
For me it was amazon… Got a charger for my mp3 player & under a year of purchase was broken.. Got a replacement within 2 days & a written email apology for da charger breaking…. They bent over backwards to help me when i called them
have your say