Vodafone Group was reportedly considering shedding several hundred jobs as part of attempts to cut costs, appease investors and revive its performance following a bruising few years.

Financial Times reported the lay offs will mostly occur at its UK headquarters, in what was tipped to be Vodafone’s biggest round of cuts in five years.

Vodafone reportedly employs around 9,400 people in the UK and 104,000 people globally. It had a rough time of late, in line with a general trend in the European telecoms sector of heightened pressure due to macroeconomic woes.

In a statement responding to the FT report, Vodafone said it is reviewing its “operating model, focusing on streamlining and simplifying the group”, and will reveal more about the changes in its fiscal Q3 2023 earnings announcement on 1 February.

Cost cuts
To counter rising energy prices and interest rates, Vodafone stated in November it was embarking on a strategy to cut more than €1 billion from costs by the end of its 2026 financial year (31 March 2026) through changes to its structure and accelerated adoption of digital operations.

A month later, the company faced further upheaval after it was announced CEO Nick Read would be leaving the role after four years.

Read’s successor will have a hefty to-do list including addressing concerns from Cevian Capital, which urged an overhaul of the business to boost its share price. The investor suggested Vodafone should update its portfolio, improve its strategy in key markets and refresh its board.

On the final point, the company made a number of changes at the top this week, including a shake-up of its management team in Italy and Spain.