The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Information / Communication Information Communication Services Telecommunications 61.90 - Other telecommunications activities
341 jobs Number of planned job losses
350 jobs Number of planned job creations
Announcement Date
28 May 2020
Employment effect (start)
Foreseen end date
Description
Virgin Media, the British telephone, television and internet services provider has announced that it will permanently close all of its 53 sales outlets across the UK, making 341 employees in sales and management positions redundant.
The company has also announced that it will create 300 new sales posts, the majority of which will involve staff working from home, and another 50 field sales positions.
A representative of the company said these shops and kiosks were not generating sufficient profits, as customers increasingly used the telephone or online channels to make enquiries about products. According to news media sources, the Covid-19 pandemic has hastened Virgin Media’s move away from sales in physical shops. In March, Virgin Media created up to 500 new customer support positions in the UK, ‘on-shoring’ jobs that were outsourced to overseas call centres.
Virgin Media is owned by the multinational telecommunications company Liberty Global and employs 12,000 people in the UK.
Eurofound (2020), Virgin Media, Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 101159, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/101159.
Digitisation and automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can affect working conditions in a variety of ways and their use in the workplace raises a host of new ethical concerns.
The retail banking sector is fertile ground for studying the impacts of digitalisation on work and employment. Financial services are increasingly provided online, without the intermediary of customer-facing institutions.
European labour markets have recovered strongly from COVID-19. By the end of 2021, little more than 18 months after the start of the pandemic, employment rates in the EU were almost at pre-crisis levels.
