Rogers Communications Eliminates “Several Hundred” Jobs
Toronto’s Rogers Communications Inc. has eliminated “several hundred” jobs throughout Canada, including middle management positions and 15 percent of executives at the vice president level and above. The company confirmed the cuts and implied that more changes are due.
The recent restructuring is part of a plan the company announced in May to “overhaul the customer experience and reaccelerate our growth relative to our peers,” Rogers spokesperson Patricia Trott told The Toronto Star.
Referred to as “Rogers 3.0,” the multi-year plan was designed to improve customer services and reorganize management, Rogers’ chief executive officer Guy Laurence said in May. Laurence acknowledged that job losses were imminent, but provided no additional details.
“As part of the restructuring, we have reduced the number of vice president and above positions by 15 per cent and several hundred middle management positions have also been eliminated across the company,” Trott told The Toronto Star. “These changes are never easy. The goal is to become a more nimble, agile organization with much clearer accountabilities. Savings will be reinvested in areas like training and systems to better serve our customers.”
Laurence joined Rogers in December, at a time when the industry is struggling to compete with new forms of media and the federal government’s efforts to create a fourth national wireless carrier. Rogers’ performance is also suffering from mounting consumer complaints about service.
The company reported flat revenue growth and declining profit in its first quarter and is due to release its second quarter report this week. According to analyst Dvai Ghose at Canaccord Genuity, the second quarter is also expected to be weak. Still, Ghose raised his rating on the stock from sell to hold, with the explanation that most of the risk is now priced into the stock and it could be oversold.
Shares of the stock hit a year-to-date low last week at $41.17, down 14 percent since January 2nd.
