More lay offs in the Canadian telecom sector are coming. Today we heard about Shaw laying off about 10% of its workforce based in sales and retail temporarily, and now Bell has announced similar layoffs are coming due to COVID-19.
According to BNN Bloomberg (owned by Bell Media), it reported, “Bell estimates up to 800 employees could be temporarily laid off depending on whether they can be reassigned to other roles.”
BCE Inc.’s 2019 annual report said the company has over 52,000 employees. If 800 employees were laid off, that would represent 1.5% of the company’s total workforce.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in numerous retail stores, restaurants and more shut down for social distancing purposes, in an effort to contain the outbreak.
No other details were provided. We’ve reached out to Bell for comment on the matter and will update this story accordingly.
