Major reorganisation at telecoms giant will see 300 staff moved to Manchester centre

Vodafone

Telecommunications giant Vodafone has launched a major restructure which will see its customer service centre relocated to Manchester.

The company is aiming to save £21m through the reorganisation.

As a result, an extra 300 members of staff will move to the site in Wythenshawe taking the total number of people based there to 1,400.

Vodafone said it is rationalising its property portfolio to cut costs and “unite teams”.

The firm’s technology centre will now be based in Newbury, Berkshire.

Staff were yesterday informed of the “organisational changes” in a memo.

The memo said: “A number of roles will be moving office locations as we bring teams together to work in a more simplified, collaborative and agile way, which will further increase our speed of delivery and digital transformation.”

Around 2,700 staff will be affected by the move. Offices affected by the reorganisation include Pacific House in Manchester, Colmore Plaza in Birmingham and Melbourne Street in Leeds.

Vodafone has said it will hold one to one discussions between employees and managers.

From March this year, customer service will be based mainly in Wythenshawe, with Glasgow, Newark and Stoke providing specialist support.

The firm says it is developing digital and consumer services in London, while a digital technology centre will be created in Newbury.

A spokesman for Vodafone said: “We are creating new centres of excellence in the UK, covering Customer Service, Consumer and Digital, and Technology.

“This is a major step to us becoming the UK’s leading digital technology and communications company and reinforces our commitment to
the UK.

“From March this year, Manchester will be the centre of excellence for customer care with Glasgow, Newark and Stoke providing specialist support. Digital and consumer services will be developed in London, and Newbury will focus on innovation with the creation of one of the UK’s largest digital technology centres.

“Under this programme, we are uniting teams spread out over a number of smaller offices into larger centres.

“We recognise some employees will need to commute further or move, and we are speaking to them individually about their specific circumstances to provide support and help them stay with us.

“We expect to have approximately the same number of employees following the two year-long exercise.”

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