Telkom is to close some stores and lay off more staff members as it outsources core operations, including some IT systems.
The company’s restructure is currently focusing on certain Telkom’s Direct stores; call centres; IT legacy systems; and internal printing, supply chain and properties.
In a statement issued this morning Telkom says that, when it began the turnaround strategy, it said it would look at alternatives, such as joint ventures, to ensure that job losses would be avoided and only used as a final course of action.
According to the statement, Telkom has completed a procurement process and has identified external companies to undertake call centre operations, the management of IT legacy systems, the management of Telkom warehouses in the supply chain area of the business, and to take over internal printing activities.
A Section 197 process has been initiated for staff impacted in these areas of the business. These affected employees will be transferred to their new employers in the coming months.
A meeting with organised labour has already taken place and an official consultation process will begin on Friday this week, with more consultations to following over the coming weeks. Affected staff have also been informed.
In addition, the company says it has conducted analyses of the viability of all the Telkom Direct Stores. It is no longer viable to continue running a number of them, and they will be shut down.
“These affected employees have been notified of the decision and, in terms of the Labour Relations Act, and have been issued with Section 189 Notices,” the company states. “Telkom will explore every option to place the affected employees impacted by this process in other areas of the business. Should such attempts be unsuccessful, some of the affected employees may unfortunately be retrenched.”
