Type
Internal restructuring
Country
Spain
Region
Location of affected unit(s)
Sector
Information / Communication
Information Communication Services
Telecommunications
61.20 - Wireless telecommunications activities

442 jobs
Number of planned job losses
Job loss
Announcement Date
15 September 2021
Employment effect (start)
30 September 2021
Foreseen end date
31 October 2021

Description

Vodafone España, the Spanish subsidiary of the British multinational telecommunications conglomerate, has announced to workers representatives a collective dismissal plan that will affect 509 workers. This adjustment plan will also involve the closure of Vodafone's 34 shops in Spain, where 237 employees work. Therefore, this plan will mainly affect commercial occupations. The company has called the unions for a month-long consultation period starting at the end of September.

The company justifies the decision based on economic, productive, and organizational causes. The restructuring is incentivized by the need to improve its operational performance by accelerating its digital transformation strategy. The objective is to reduce drastically the physical presence of the Spanish subsidiary to enhance the digital customer care and the digitalization of its activities. 

Vodafone already implemented a dismissal plan in 2019 that affected around 1,000 persons. 

Update 27/10/2021: Vodafone and the unions have signed the agreement for the collective redundancy plan that will finally affect 442 employees (10% of the workforce), 15% less than the initial announcement. The agreement is similar to the 2019 restructuring process: voluntary leaves and compensation of 50 days per year worked with a maximum of 33 monthly payments, along with a linear bonus of €6,000 for workers earning less than €30,000 gross. The agreement also counts with early retirements for those older than 54. The agreement also has a relocation plan for the 230 workers at Vodafone's shops that the company plans to outsource to work in the supplier company.


Sources

Citation

Eurofound (2021), Vodafone, Internal restructuring in Spain, factsheet number 105301, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/105301.