Telco clarifies cuts are not due to AI adoption
Telstra is proposing a net reduction of about 500 roles, but maintains that the cuts are not due to the organisation's artificial intelligence adoption.
A spokesperson from the telecommunications firm confirmed to HRD that it shared the proposed net reduction with employees on Wednesday.
"These changes are largely driven by the ongoing reset of our Telstra Enterprise business, as well as improvements to the structure and processes of other teams across our organisation, to reduce complexity, create efficiencies, and respond to changing customer needs," the Telstra spokesperson said in a statement.
The company did not disclose which roles will be affected, but said they are consulting with their employees first about the changes.
"If the changes go ahead we'll work with the people in the roles that are no longer required to seek to help them find another role at Telstra," the spokesperson said.
"If that's not possible and they end up leaving Telstra, they'll have access to our redundancy package and a range of support services."
The proposed cuts come after Telstra chief executive officer Vicki Brady said in May the business was expecting a workforce reduction in the next five years because of AI adoption.
"We can't predict exactly what our business will look like in 2030, but we expect our workforce to be smaller than it is today," Brady said, as quoted by The Guardian.
But Telstra clarified that the cuts are not a result of the company's AI adoption.
"The changes proposed to our team are not a result of our adoption of AI," the spokesperson stated.
The cuts follow the company's announcement in May 2024 of cutting up to 2,800 jobs as part of the company's reset of its Enterprise business, aimed at simplifying operations and improving productivity.
