Shaw president says voluntary departure of 3,300 employees is a ‘good outcome’
TORONTO — The departure of one-quarter of Shaw Communications Inc.’s workforce will be manageable —and mitigated by a technology-driven push toward customer self-service — even though the 3,300 who elected to take a voluntary severance package was five times more than its original estimate, its president said Thursday.
The Calgary-based company, which owns Canada’s second-largest cable TV operation and the country’s fourth-largest mobile phone service, had initially aimed the package at 6,500 employees and estimated about 10 per cent would accept the deal offered about two weeks ago. It said Thursday that all eligible employees who volunteered to take the deal will be accepted.
“We publicly set a modest goal,” Shaw president Jay Mehr said in an interview.
“I think what we have now learned — and it’s a good outcome — is that the takeup we now have in the first phase means that we won’t have to do cuts later on.”