Ericsson set to slash 1,550 Swedish jobs

Mobile phone vendor looks to further reduce costs by culling staff across the board

Mobile phone and network giant Ericsson is set to slash nine per cent of its Swedish workforce as the downturn continues to bite.

The firm, which employs over 17,400 staff in Sweden, announced its intentions to reduce costs, drive commercial excellence and operational effectiveness by axing 1,550 positions across the organisation. All sites in Sweden are affected except Falun, Hudiksvall, Kalmar and Katrineholm.

No job role will remain untouched, with staff in sales, general and administration, R&D, supply, and service delivery, the firm revealed.

Tomas Qvist, head of Ericsson's HR in Sweden, said: "It is naturally a difficult message for our employees in Sweden. We must ensure that we can continue to execute on our strategy to maintain our market leadership, invest in R&D and meet our customers' needs.

"To secure this we need to focus on reducing cost, driving commercial excellence and operational effectiveness. This will enable us to secure our future competitiveness. Over the past couple of years we have been continuously driving these global efficiency measures across regions and units. And, sometimes redundancies are unfortunately inevitable," he added.

Ericsson said it has started negotiations with union representatives and in March 2013 all employees concerned will have been informed.