Watchful eye on Enterprise and Global as new ‘BT Business’ division begins to take shape
January 6 2023
Close tabs are being kept on developments in BT’s Enterprise and Global customer facing units as the first tentative steps towards their merger into a new combined ‘BT Business’ division begin in earnest.
Announced shortly before Christmas, BT’s stated aim was to begin the integration of the two CFUs on January 1 – with their absorption into BT Business due to be complete by April 1.
The new division is headed by Bas Burger – formerly the CEO of Global – and on Tuesday this week the new BT Business supremo issued a special ‘Happy New Year’ message to employees across both component parts of the new entity stressing he “couldn’t be prouder to be leading this unique, market-leading organisation”.
No detail was given as to what the merger will mean in practice for employees, but it has been reported that ‘synergies’ stemming from the link-up will result in annualised savings of £100m – part of the £500m in savings that BT has already announced will be made by 2025.
CWU national officer Allan Eldred comments: “Although this move has been the subject of speculation for many years, the timing of the announcement was not anticipated and is likely to have been caused by a leak from within the company that lead to an article in the Daily Telegraph, which had anticipated this move.
“From the CWU’s perspective, both the Enterprise and Global CFUs have long appeared to be somewhat top-heavy, so the union suspects that any headcount rationalisation stemming from this announcement is likely to be focussed on middle management.
“In Enterprise, team member grade numbers have already been reduced to what we believe are a minimum, and in Global the vast majority of our members are in Security which covers mainly Government systems and national security, so they remain largely immune.
“That said, we do not anticipate this announcement being without challenges for this union and its Enterprise and Global memberships – and accordingly will be keeping a hawk-like watch on developments as they unfold in the coming months.”
Pledging that the CWU is be ready and waiting to provide the full range of support to any members who find themselves impacted in any way, Allan concludes: “I’d strongly urge anyone with specific worries to feed those back to their branch or workplace representatives without delay.”
- Any team member employees in Enterprise or Global who are not currently members of the union can easily and quickly join the CWU by clicking on the link below.