One of Northern Ireland's biggest employers has announced nearly 100 staff members will be made redundant this year. There are 90 positions at BT's headquarters at Riverside Tower in Belfast impacted by changes at the company.
Staff have told Belfast Live it was an "out of the blue" announcement made on Tuesday, with redundancies in place from May 31. One staff member added: "It's a huge shock to the people impacted but also the economy."
A BT Group spokesperson said: “Today, we shared proposals with a small number of colleagues in Belfast to transfer some of the work they do to other BT office locations. We are discussions with anyone affected by our proposals and, if we go ahead, we have shared other opportunities in the wider Belfast office. There is no impact to customers.”
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In 2023, the company completed the multi-million-pound refurbishment of its flagship Riverside Tower office in Belfast, and stated it "continues to invest in the region." A spokesperson added: "Belfast remains a strategic location for BT Group and is home to around 2,000 colleagues from across the company, including EE, BT Business and Openreach."
Across BT Group, the company employs more than 3,400 people in Northern Ireland, with its activities here contributing more than £630million to the local economy.
In January 2024, BT Group announced plans to recruit nearly 40 apprentices and graduates in Belfast for its September intake. The company recruited apprentices in software engineering, customer service, applied research, data analytics and cyber-security. The roles included 28 graduate jobs and 11 apprenticeships.
Last October, 300 staff members at a BT call centre in Enniskillen were made redundant, with many of the employees involved taking voluntary redundancy.
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