That 15 percent of the workforce will be laid off came as a cold shower for the employees at Telia on Tuesday morning. Patrik Hofbauer took office as CEO of Telia on February 1.
It's clearly tough to look colleagues in the eye when you know that 3,000 positions will disappear. But we are fully agreed in the board and corporate management that this is absolutely the right thing to do, he says.
The employees who remain will get clearer roles and responsibilities. The individual countries where Telia has operations will be able to decide more for themselves.
We see that now we want to decentralize and put much greater responsibility on the roles close to the customer, he says.
"Faster and better"
The new organization is expected to be in place by December 1, if everything goes according to management's plan. Hofbauer says that the decision was not made because they see dark clouds on the horizon.
We have a very fine business. We have strong positions in the markets where we operate.
The cutbacks come in a year when Telia has performed strongly on the stock exchange, and an explicit goal is to be able to maintain dividend payments. Hofbauer admits that the brand may take a short-term hit.
But I believe we will become a faster and better company and more appreciated by the employees who remain, he says.
The entire business
Customers should not notice too much of the changes, according to the Telia top executive.
It's not so much about making changes where the customer is, he says.
Whether there will be severance packages, if the reduction can be solved through natural attrition, and how, for example, Telia stores out in the country will be affected is too early to say.
It will affect our entire business, but exactly how it will be in detail, I cannot answer now, says Patrik Hofbauer.
