About 1,200 employees leave Rogers as part of the voluntary departure program after taking on shaanair

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About 1,200 employees have left Rogers Communications Inc. RCI-B-t as part of a voluntary staff layoff program launched to eliminate dual roles following the $ 20 billion takeover of Shaanair Communications Inc by telecom.

Earlier this month, the Toronto-based telecom offered to offer leave packages to employees in certain areas of the business if they decide to leave the company. The last working day for those who applied for the packages and were accepted was July 21.

According to a person familiar with the matter, 660 employees of Rogers and 541 former employees of Shaanair left the combined company on that date. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the source because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

Rogers ‘ 660 departures represent 3 percent of the company’s 22,000 active employees since December. 31, 2022. The 541 departures represent 6 percent of the company’s nearly 9,000 staff members.

A spokesman for Rogers declined to comment on the figures.

In a memo to employees on Wednesday, Rogers chief executive Tony Staffieri said the company would continue to eliminate overlapping roles after seeing only a “modest pick-up” of the voluntary layoff program.

“Looking ahead, we will continue to thoughtfully review our organizational structure and address any overlap in roles,” Staffieri said in the memo, which was obtained by the Globe.

The Globe previously reported that the company had eliminated some positions before it began offering startup packages and that additional job reductions were planned. Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, a Canadian law firm specializing in labor law, has said that many employees of Rogers and Shanair contacted it in the past month, claiming they were fired due to restructuring related to the deal.

In the run-up to the takeover, politicians and industry watchers expressed concerns about job losses because Rogers was expected to seek efficiency during its integration with Calgary-based Shaanair. The two companies previously estimated the deal would result in synergies worth $ 1 billion.

On Wednesday, when Rogers reported its second-quarter financial results, Staffieri said during a telephone conference that Sha been ahead of schedule and that Rogers had already realized roughly a quarter, or $ 48 million, of the $ 200 million in cost savings it has forecast for this year.

Glenn Brandt, telecom’s chief financial officer, told analysts that these synergies have largely come from savings related to third-party vendors, “as well as early efforts to remove duplication and driving efficiency in our domestic operations.”

Where Mr. Staffieri announced the voluntary departure program earlier this month, he said Telekom would continue hiring new staff in order to build its networks and support its customers.

“We are a growing company and remain committed to creating thousands of jobs over the coming years while investing in our customers, communities and country,” he said.

To secure regulatory approval for its purchase, which closed in April, Rogers promised to create 3,000 new jobs in Western Canada within five years and maintain a headquarters in Calgary for at least a decade.

Although Mr. Staffieri has said that the company will also eliminate positions in areas of duplication, he has noted that on a net basis the takeover will result in more jobs, as telecom restores its resources to areas of growth.

Not all employees were qualified for the voluntary departure program. Most corporate and business line roles up to the senior director level were acceptable, while most customer-facing roles, media production roles, and critical support functions were not.

Rogers reported revenue of $ 5.05 billion for the three-month period ended June 30, up 30 percent from the same period last year, while its profit fell 73 percent to $ 109 million, or 20 cents per share.

After adjusting for depreciation and amortization, as well as other items, the company made $ 544 million in profit, up from $ 463 million. Adjusted earnings came to $ 1.02 per share, up from 86 cents.