Shaw lays off ten per cent of workforce due to COVID-19

Shaw Communications Inc. will temporarily lay off about ten per cent of its workforce due to the “extraordinary and unpredictable conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the company announced in a press release on Tuesday. Shaw president Paul McAleese praised the hard work of Shaw’s employees in ensuring Canadians around the country remained connected, but said in the release that the layoffs were necessary until “our business activities resume to more normal levels.” A Shaw spokesperson did not say exactly how many staff would be laid off, but said the number was less than 1,000. According to its website, Shaw has approximately 10,000 employees. “Government leaders across the country have taken significant and necessary steps to ensure the health and safety of Canadians and to limit the spread of the virus,” McAleese said. “These measures have resulted in dramatic shortages or stoppages of work in specific areas of our business where we have had to make the hard decisions being announced today.” McAleese said the company would top up the government Employment Insurance payments to laid-off employees to different levels, depending on their earnings, as well as continuing to extend benefits and pension contributions for eligible non-unionized employees during the layoff period. The announcement of the layoffs, which will begin on Thursday, comes less than a week after the company announced its second quarter earnings for 2020. McAleese said on the call that the current quarter, which the company will report in three months time, would likely be a “lost” one for wireless growth but said Freedom Mobile was likely to be “less vulnerable” to the financial impacts of COVID-19 than the incumbents. In a Monday note, Desjardins financial analyst Maher Yaghi said he believed the company was “well positioned for the post-pandemic world,” following the earnings call. “While the impact should be negative overall due to macroeconomic trends, the company should still benefit from an offset from a lower wireless cost of acquisition and a higher proportion of self-installs on wireline,” Yaghi said in the note. “Post COVID-19, we believe the company’s wireless offering should support decent consolidated growth.” McAleese said in Tuesday’s release that everyone at Shaw and Freedom was “well aware that millions of Canadians and their families depend on us to keep them connected.” “With the world navigating through the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s never been clearer how important it is for people to be connected to stay in touch with friends, families and loved ones,” McAleese said. Network usage remained “increased” but Shaw’s customers continued to report “strong” wireless and broadband connectivity, McAleese said, adding that network upgrades in recent years had put the company in a “solid position” to handle the extra traffic. Shaw has moved completely to self-installations since the pandemic began, and has closed a number of Freedom Mobile stores. Shaw joins Quebecor Inc., Cogeco Inc. and Teksavvy Solutions Inc. in announcing layoffs since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Quebecor also laid off 10 per cent of its workforce, about 1,000 employees, while Cogeco’s layoffs affected 130 employees in Cogeco Media’s administrative, sales and broadcasting services. Teksavvy also announced a $5 increase in its home internet bills. — With reporting by Adam Langenberg at alangenberg@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Shaw lays off ten per cent of workforce due to COVID-19

News | April 14, 2020

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Shaw lays off ten per cent of workforce due to COVID-19

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