Xerox Dublin staff told to expect job losses

Printing giant Xerox has warned employees at its Irish operation that the outsourcing deal with IBM Global Services which comes into effect at the beginning of September will result in job cuts at its Dublin offices.

Employee representatives were called to a meeting with Xerox management yesterday afternoon where they were told that over the next 18 months, the services provided by Dublin staff would be "integrated into IBM's global delivery network".

Ultimately this means that the service currently being offered from Ballycoolin in north Dublin will be delivered from a number of IBM centres, including possibly Dublin, Scotland, Bulgaria, India and the Philippines.

Xerox did not advise staff as to how many of the 900 staff moving to IBM would be affected.

However, given the number of centres that IBM is proposing to employ, a large number of current Xerox staff will be redeployed overseas or face losing their jobs.

At the beginning of July, Xerox said it would outsource the operation of its Dublin call centre to IBM. At that time, Xerox told journalists that there would be no job losses and staff would transfer to IBM under the same terms and conditions they currently enjoyed.

They also said staff would continue to work in the same location.

Last night, a joint Xerox/IBM statement said that the two companies believed that "changes will be effected through, for example, attrition, redeployment, and, if necessary, redundancy".

It is understood that staff turnover is high in the Xerox call centre, with about 75 per cent of staff having served less than two years.

Staff were assured that IBM would work with them to identify alternative positions in IBM, both in Ireland and internationally, for which they may be suitably qualified. Sources close to the deal said IBM was chosen over other service providers because it was willing to take a more phased approach to the reduction in staff numbers.

Last night IDA Ireland, which has provided backing to Xerox for a number of Irish investments, confirmed it was aware of the negotiations with staff, but directed inquiries to Xerox.

The remaining 350 Xerox staff at Ballycoolin will be unaffected, as will another 350 at a manufacturing facility in Dundalk.

IBM employs almost 3,500 staff in the Republic and has been expanding its Irish operations in recent years.

Last year it announced a €46 million Irish investment which will create 300 new roles.