IT giant Capgemini today confirmed job-cutting plans which could have a major impact on its Telford offices. It said it would be axing up to 450 staff.They are employed on contract around the country with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
The first stage will see 44 jobs go at an office in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the closure of an office in Basingstoke with the loss of 95 jobs.
Capgemini, which employs about 2,200 staff in Telford town centre, provides IT services in a deal called Aspire (A Strategic Partnership for the Inland Revenue), which is undergoing a cost-cutting review.
Capgemini Aspire chief executive officer David Boulter said: “Capgemini has undertaken a strategic review of delivery, which has concluded, having explored all other areas, there is now unfortunately a need to reduce staff costs to optimise delivery. As a result we will be making up to 450 redundancies across the business.
“We are currently examining implications for other Aspire sites including Telford where we are in constant and productive dialogue with employees and the PCS union.
“We will inform staff of the review recommendations by the end of this week.”
Meanwhile, staff at GKN Sankey’s autostructures section in Hadley, Telford, have rejected a 2.8 per cent pay rise.
A ballot of almost 700 staff was carried out, with 44 per cent voting against the rise, 36 per cent for it and 20 per cent not making a vote.
A GKN spokesman said a second ballot likely as the first “did not reflect the opinion of a majority of people”.
14 Comments
Is there actually any work left in telford?
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Is it just me or do Cap Gemini keep cutting their staff? Didnt we have this a while ago too?
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as the specials sung in the early 80’s this town is coming like a ghost town,council rates way to high there’s still only the m54 and the rabbit run as the best transport roads from telford,god help telford in ten years time it will be just like my old town of tipton full of new housing and no office or factory work anywhere.
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I agree Steve – the Midlands is on its skills death bed !!!
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Another blow for Telford. Is anyone doing anything about attracting new businesses and to stop the decline? What about the countless government agencies?
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Steve, the question is, is there any work left ANYWHERE?
We are sliding into a recession fuelled by Blair’s two wars and by Brown messing up the banking system when he was Chancellor, leading to the Northern Rock disaster.
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Matt, I think you’ll find the Northern Rock problems were caused by a) Irresponsible mortgage lending by US institutions, and b) Risky strategies on the part of Northern Rock with regard to inter-bank loans.
There is much we can blame Gordon Brown/Tony Blair for, including being the US’s military poodle, but the Northern Rock’s problems were caused by the inherent greed of capitalism.
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I used to work for Capgemini. Needless to say its noted inside and outside of the company that morale has dropped to an all time low, work pressures have soared and a distinct lack of consideration for the employees time with their familes has crept in. All this via the current senior management… many of whom live outside of Telford and also Shropshire.
Never mind the redundancies. Many are leaving on their own accord to seek brighter futures and less stressful environments.
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I left about 6 months ago and I feel so sorry for my friends left back there. Its wrong that people are being rung at there desks letting them know they are bing made redunant! You would have thought a company that asks for so much from there people would be more compassionate?
Or am I to soft??
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I left Capgemini recently and I must echo the views of my former colleagues. I have never worked for an organisation that values people skills so lowly. The majority of the senior management are not local, they manage the company from local hotels during the week and are gone come Friday.
I am very sorry for the people that remain, I am of the opinion that Capgemini does not deserve good staff because it cannot provide them with a future.
Rather than a strategic review of delivery I would suggest a strategic review of staff management and morale with the people that remain at the heart of it.
Unfortunately though a company managed from Paris and Woking will never respect Telford people.
Capgemini has already had the best out of the Aspire contract, they have no incentive now to look after HMRC or their employees in Telford.
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Jim Davies said: “Its wrong that people are being rung at there desks letting them know they are bing made redunant! You would have thought a company that asks for so much from there people would be more compassionate?
Or am I to soft??
Jim, remember this line -
Never fall in love with the company you work for, as the company is unable to love you back.
You may be used as an employee and felt part of ‘the team’, but when you are no longer required you just become a number – That’s capitalism for you.
I left 2 years ago when I could see the downward spiral – it shows clearly as a lack of moral.
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CapGemini are losing a great number of experienced people who have understood Revenue computing over many years. Sadly, as taxpayers, we’ll all suffer the consequences of future system failures due to this short-sighted exercise.
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THe buildup to waiting for the calls on Wednesday was unbelievable. Luckily (or maybe not) I never had a call, so for the time being have a “job”. But be assured that by the end of this year I think Cap will be rolling this out again. I wish all those people that have had the bad news, a great future. Have lost a lot of friends.
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The irony that CG were recruiting upto 500 staff in Telford in the fall of ‘05 and now they’ve laid people off is beyond me.
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