Sky to overhaul call centres and cut around 2,000 jobs
Sky has announced plans to shake up its call centres in a move which will see around 2,000 jobs put at risk of being lost.
The media company, which is owned by US media giant Comcast, is looking to close three of its ten call centre sites.
Its locations in Stockport, Sheffield and central Leeds have been earmarked for closure.
Some roles will also be affected at Sky’s call centre sites in Dunfermline and Newcastle.
Sky added that around seven per cent of its total workforce will be impacted by the proposals.
A spokesman for the company said: “We’re transforming our business to deliver quicker, simpler and more digital customer service.
“Our customers increasingly want choice, to speak to us on the phone when they need us most and the ease of managing everyday tasks digitally.
“We’re investing in a new centre of excellence for customer service, alongside cutting-edge digital technology to make our service seamless, reliable, and available 24/7.”
The company said the changes will “create a faster, smarter and more responsive experience” for Sky customers and help support investment plans by the entertainment and telecoms firm.
Sky also announced on Thursday that it is making a “multimillion-pound investment” in its Livingston site to establish a “centre of excellence”.
It told staff it is making the changes to its operations in order to help the firm “adapt to an increasingly digital world”, with customers increasingly interacting with it online.
It comes after Sky launched plans last January to cut around 1,000 jobs, axing a raft of engineers amid weaker demand for satellite dish installations.
Sky follows Morrisons in major job cull
The news is the latest large-scale job announcement after thousands of jobs were put at risk earlier today after British Steel announced plans to significantly reduce operations at its Scunthorpe steelworks.
Up to 2,700 employees are expected to be impacted by the move which would see the closure of two blast furnaces and steelmaking operations as well as a reduction of steel rolling mill capacity at the site.
British Steel said the blast furnaces and steelmaking operations are “no longer financially sustainable due to highly challenging market conditions, the imposition of tariffs, and higher environmental costs relating to the production of high-carbon steel”.
The announcement comes after China-based Jingye, the owner of British Steel, rejected a £500m state rescue package yesterday.
Earlier this week, supermarket giant Morrisons put 365 jobs at risk after it revealed plans to close more than 50 of its cafes.
The Yorkshire-headquartered chain said 52 of its cafes, 17 convenience stores and dozens of meat and fish counters at its shops are slated for closure.
Morrisons said the closures are part of a “wide-ranging” review of the business.
As well as the cafes and convenience stores, 13 florists, 35 meat counters, 35 fish counters and four pharmacies and all 18 Market Kitchens are to be closed.