BT to Close Enniskillen Contact Centre with Loss of 300 Jobs
Telecoms and broadband giant BT has announced that, as part of their ongoing UK programme to modernise and consolidate the number of offices they have, they’ve decided to close their Enniskillen Contact Centre in Northern Ireland. The move is expected to result in the loss of around 300 jobs from the site.
The Broadmeadow Place site is now expected to be formally closed by the end of October 2024. Some staff members may be able to move to a different site, although for many others this is likely to be impractical.
According to BT’s spokesperson: “We have now made the difficult decision to propose closing the site to the small number of remaining desk-based colleagues on 31st October and have entered into consultation with colleagues and trade union partners. We will continue to support all impacted colleagues throughout this process. These proposals will have no impact for customers.”
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BT added that it would continue to make significant investments in the rollout of full fibre (FTTP) broadband and 5G mobile connectivity across Northern Ireland.
Deirdre Hargey, N.I Economy Minister, said:
“It is extremely disappointing that BT has decided to close its Enniskillen contact centre with a loss of 300 jobs. As a major employer in the region for over three decades, this decision is devastating for the workers and their families, and also for the wider community.
In line with his commitment to regional balance Conor Murphy met with both CWU representatives and BT to retain these skilled jobs. He also supported Invest NI’s concerted efforts to work with BT to find an alternative site within Enniskillen so these jobs could be retained. I have asked Invest NI to ensure every step possible is taken to support the staff impacted.”
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and Linkedin.
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Sad times and I wish those people well. BT did announce sometime ago there is going to be a slash in its work force. It’s time to get out of the out of the telecoms industry as whole.
No future in it whatsoever…
Why do you say no future in it out of interest?
A lot of the smaller sites – mostly in old telephone exchanges – will be for the chop. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Exeter. Truro, or Accrington to be the next to go
A loyal workforce of 300 who have served their company well for 30+ years is cast aside by a heartless management team who will no doubt receive large bonuses in excess of the redundancy packages they are twisting workers arms to accept. Shame on you. Why are the government giving BT £900 million to move these jobs to Belfast? I will certainly be encouraging anyone i know to boycott BT and its products in future.
Back in the 90`s, BT were culling staff, mainly engineers because they wanted University Graduates to be to take on these rolls
A few months later, we all received letters asking if we would like to return to our old jobs, as the skills of the remaining work force fell far short of expectations
“Whats a Multimeter”
As far as I know, very few (like me) returned.
The thing is, the building is a working exchange that isn’t going anywhere. The office space within the building will just have their doors locked. Traveling to Belfast everyday is impractical for these workers.
The move to digital and the use of AI is likely to lead to a very significant loss of jobs with BT/Openreach and their contractors
I love it when they say the difficult decision, difficult my foot, they don’t care like most other companies, all they care about is how much money they make.
Totally agree
Its not really about ‘making’ money in the firm itself – Its about boosting the share price temporarily. Investors love to hear redundancies are happening and the share price goes up. Its stupid short-termism but every firm is now doing it. No one cares if it reduces the company long term functioning or reduces customer happiness. The share price increase has already been cashed in by that point (not my problem think the investors as they’ve made their money and walk away to the next target).
This was one orf the better offices with very vital members of BT. Not the first and not the last with BT Direct staff getting a rise when they can payu outsourcers pennies (while CWU does little for them) and say it’s progress.