By Dan Ilett, 17 May 2005 17:30
NEWS
HP has refused to confirm rumours of a further 150 job cuts at a Newcastle technical support centre.
The company, which will outsource IT support to an Indian firm, said it will make 100 redundancies at Twenty4help, 60 per cent of which will happen in August with another 40 per cent in November.
But silicon.com readers claiming to work at the company have said that 250 people will be fired.
One reader wrote to silicon.com: "HP's decision, officially announced last Thursday, affects 250 employees from the managers to the agents. According to the official announcement 40 per cent (and NOT 40 employees) of the call volumes will be transferred to India until 31 July then the rest until 31 October [sic]."
"The decision is official and now everybody is waiting for HP's verdict that which [sic] teams, business lines must be the first which have to go at the end of July."
Despite the claim, HP have insisted 100 jobs will be lost but did not deny it may axe a further 150.
"We're not denying it," said a representative for the company. "One hundred is the figure I gave. I can't confirm or deny 250."
Yesterday HP said it will continue to use Twenty4help for pre-sales enquiries or customer service issues.
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1. Robin Edwardes
"It is a shame to see the market leader reducing its local commitment to customer support and service when all our indicators suggest that the provision of quality local service is regarded as highly now as cost of ownership issues for business users of laser printers," says TallyGenicom's VP Marketing EMEA and Managing Director Robin Edwardes.