Sprint is facing stiff competition in the U.S. wireless network market, and as such, several job cuts are needed to keep the company afloat. Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure confirms that parent company, SoftBank, is planning to kick start the job cuts before January 30, 2016.
Claure did not state how many employees will lose their jobs, only indicating that he wants to get it over with before the end of January. The timing here is of much importance because Sprint intends to cut severance pay by 50 percent in 2016.
"Nobody likes to be in a company that is doing layoffs. The way you beat that is being very honest and transparent ," said Claure.
The news of job cuts came along after Sprint reported its earnings that showed a six percent drop in overall operating revenue. From what we've come to understand, this was lower than expected, and as such, the Japanese parent company SoftBank decided to move ahead with an unpopular decision.
Apart from cutting jobs, Sprint is looking into better controlling how executives and other employees spend company money. The plan is to request executives to stop using private town cars and instead move to Uber. Also, all employees will not be asked to take care of their own trash.
Sprint is definitely tightening the buckle here as even the free snack program for employees is coming to an end as well. Employees will have to bring their own snacks to work.
Claure added that his company is looking at every aspect of Sprint that is capable of bringing down the cost of operation as he prepares to bring Sprint back to the realm of profitability. However, he also realizes that there will be a lot of work to do going forward, which includes boosting employee morale because these changes will no doubt weigh on some.
As for the earnings report, it did contain a few good news. Sprint's press release shows that the company added 237,000 posted subscribers over the past three months.
Sprint is the 4th largest wireless network in the United States behind T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T. T-Mobile was once in the 4th spot, but its "un-carrier" campaign helped dethrone Sprint.
