Telia to increase efficiency of customer service in Sweden

Telia to increase efficiency of customer service in Sweden Telia must increase the efficiency of its customer services and has therefore launched an action programme in which one of the steps will be to concentrate customer service units in Sweden in 13 locations, compared to 31 today, over a period of one to two years. The change affects approximately 25 percent of Telia's customer service personnel. All will be offered jobs in another location. During the summer and fall Telia reviewed its customer service organisation. The results of the analysis indicated that customer service must be improved and costs reduced. An action programme has therefore been developed in which one of the measures will be to reduce the number of customer service units in Sweden. Reducing the number of customer service locations will create a platform for offering better service, increasing efficiency, achieving substantial cost savings and creating better development opportunities for employees in areas where Telia's customer services will be located. Other measures will also be implemented. For example, Telia will develop and improve working methods, introduce new types of support systems, work with quality improvements and further develop new customer channels and automatic phone-based customer services. The following locations and employees (number in parentheses) are affected in Sweden: Borås (40), Eskilstuna (15), Falun/Borlänge (25), Halmstad (30), Karlskrona (30), Kristianstad (40), Linköping (35), Lund (45) , Nyköping (25), Skövde (40), Umeå/Skellefteå (40), Uppsala (60), Visby (15), Växjö (30), Örebro (60) and Östersund (30) . In addition to the 560 employees mentioned above, some 50 temporary employees from manpower agencies will also be affected. Telia will offer all of these employees the possibility to relocate to other customer service locations, or as an alternative, to commute to their new workplaces, provided that the distance and transportation possibilities are considered reasonable. When this is not possible, Telia intends to help the employees find new employment inside or outside the Telia Group. The decision will result in no redundancies. Telia has chosen to focus on the following 13 locations, which have about 1,800 employees: Gävle, Göteborg, Helsingborg, Jönköping, Kalmar, Karlstad, Luleå, Malmö, Norrköping, Stockholm, Sundsvall, Uddevalla and Västerås. For further information journalists can contact: Hans G Larsson, Press Manager, Telia Sverige AB, phone +46 70-218 18 18, Torbjörn Larsson, Press Officer, Telia Sverige AB, phone +46 70-527 20 33. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/10/17/20011017BIT00630/bit0002.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/10/17/20011017BIT00630/bit0002.pdf