T-Mobile disclosed its plans Thursday to eliminate approximately 5,000 jobs over the next five weeks.
The reduction equates to about 7% of the company’s total workforce. T-Mobile CEO Michael Sievert claimed the move is meant to eliminate redundancies to get the firm “efficiently focused on a finite set of winning strategies,” according to WFAA.
While the development has sent shockwaves through the tech industry, which has seen other corporate giants (Twitter, Yahoo, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft) cut jobs this past year, Sievert suggested the T-Mobile layoffs would be a one-off occurrence.
“This is a large change, and an unusual one for our company,” Sievert said, per WFAA. “Because of this, we do not envision making additional largescale reductions across the company again in the foreseeable future.”
Still, as previously reported by The Dallas Express, the labor market has been cooling. In June, slight drops from the month before were logged in the number of job openings, which stood at about 9.6 million. The number of new hires recorded that month was 5.9 million, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
However, figures varied greatly by sector, with some struggling with employee shortages, such as teachers in education, pilots, flight controllers, and mechanics in aviation, and nurses and caregivers in healthcare.
In the case of T-Mobile, the layoffs will reportedly affect roles within back-office departments and some technology positions. Notably, the company’s retail and customer service teams will remain intact, according to WFAA.
Affected employees were promised severance packages that included financial compensation based on their tenure but also 60 days of transition leave and career transition services.
Although the layoff announcement led to a 2% dip in T-Mobile shares, the company had impressive second-quarter earnings that boasted a profit of $2.2 billion and total service revenues of $15.7 billion.
Furthermore, T-Mobile had already expanded its market reach in 2020 by acquiring Sprint, and it announced the acquisition of Mint Mobile this March.
As covered previously by The Dallas Express, T-Mobile acquired Ka’ena Corporation and its subsidiaries, including the prepaid wireless brand Mint Mobile, for $1.35 billion. The deal stipulated that Mint Mobile’s monthly rates and marketing strategies would remain intact.
