Telecommunications provider Embarq Corp. to cut 500-700 jobs
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/08/2008 (6585 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Telecommunications provider Embarq Corp. said Friday it is cutting between 500 and 700 jobs and eliminating around 300 contract positions as it deals with a continued loss of telephone customers.
The Overland Park, Kan.-based company said the job cuts will all come from its Network Services organization, which installs and maintains its network, and is part of the company’s attempts to bring down costs.
The proposed company job cuts would amount to about 3 per cent to 4 per cent of Embarq’s work force of more than 17,000.
Embarq, the nation’s fourth-largest traditional telephone company with service in’ states, has experienced a double whammy as more customers are dropping wireline phones for wireless and Internet telephone services while the slowdown in new housing is reducing the number of new customers.
In the second quarter, the company said it lost a net of 170,000 access lines to end at 6.02 million, or 7.8 per cent fewer than a year ago. It still believes annual line losses will be similar to last year, when the company lost a little more than 6 per cent of its lines.
“Our rationale is that to ensure the continued success of our enterprise we are constantly evaluating the size and placement of our work force, including the ways we staff and prioritize work,” said Embarq spokesman Charles Fleckenstein. “This action allows us to rationalize the size of our work force relative to the size of our customer base.”
Fleckenstein said the company is first asking management and supervisors in all markets to take a voluntary buyout and will ask regular workers to do the same in a few weeks. If not enough employees take a voluntary buyout, the company will have to make layoffs, he said.
Embarq said it expected to complete the cuts in the fourth quarter but will incur charges related to severance and other termination costs in the third quarter. Those charges haven’t been determined, Fleckenstein said.
In June, Embarq announced it was handing over four technical service centers to Nokia Siemens Networks, transferring 256 Embarq workers to the other company. It also said it planned to close three customer call centers, affecting 210 jobs.
Embarq shares rose 74 cents, or 1.6 per cent, to $48.50 Friday.