Sprint Reportedly Shedding 4.5% (up to 2500) Workers

I really hate reading headlines like this one over on ZDNet…

Sprint to cut 2,000 to 2,500 jobs

I went through a large telecom merger many years ago that resulted in my entire department being RIFed (Reduction In Force – aka – laid off). Let me tell you from first hand experience, this is no fun. In our case, it was a combination of a then failing economy (2001) and the economies of scale (too many people) caused by the merger itself.

This time? Well, Sprint has been bleeding subscribers and money despite management changes, attempts to field a killer phone (the Palm Pre), and, I’m sure, the hard work of a lot of people at the bottom of the corporate food chain. Yahoo! Finance shows Sprint as having 56,000 employees (this is probably higher than the actual current count). But, assuming this is correct, a 2500 head count reduction is about 4.5% of the current workforce.

As a former telecom guy, all I can say is “Hang in there folks!”.

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