Vodafone Germany to cut 2,000 jobs as part of savings drive

DUSSELDORF, GERMANY (DPA) : Vodafone Germany plans to slash and relocate around 2,000 jobs in a bid to save 400 million euros ($434 million) in the next two years, the company announced on Tuesday.

Vodafone currently employs around 15,000 people in Germany, which means that 13% of employees would be affected by the cuts.

In addition to job cuts, Vodafone Germany plans to reduce material and operating costs, the head of the company, Philipp Rogge, said in a speech to employees.

The measures affect, for example, systems that are outdated or duplicated following company takeovers.

Rogge is leaving the company at the end of March.

Vodafone Germany has been undergoing a process of change for years. Under Rogge’s predecessor Hannes Ametsreiter, many customers recently complained that Vodafone was not able to fulfill its bold advertising promises when it came to landline connections, for example.

Rogge on Tuesday explained that Vodafone has begun to realign itself – and has returned to growth with improved networks and offers in recent quarters. “Over the next two years, Vodafone therefore wants to become even simpler, faster, leaner and therefore more powerful,” Rogge said.

As part of the restructuring, “simpler products and services” are to be developed in the future, Vodafone said. Costs are to be reduced primarily by dismantling complex structures and modernizing network elements and IT systems.

Rogge, who only took over the chief executive’s position from Ametsreiter in July 2022, promised that Vodafone would make the personnel changes in a socially responsible manner.

Certain manual activities will be carried out through increased automation in the future, he said. However, Vodafone also wants to hire new people in other areas.

Growth areas such as the cloud business and “customer-facing positions, especially in the corporate customer segment” are to be strengthened with experts, Rogge said.