Qantas Airways Plans 850 Layoffs in Australia, Shifts Some Operations to India
Qantas Airways is set to lose about 850 positions in Australia as part of a comprehensive overhaul and cost-cutting plan. The airline will outsource a variety of corporate services like marketing, finance, personnel resources and procurement to Accenture.
Qantas, an Australian airline, intends to lay off about 850 workers. Additionally, Accenture, a consulting business, is taking over part of the company's corporate functions; teams in India will likely be responsible for the bulk of the impacted work. The action is a component of a long-term plan to update the airline's internal systems. In addition, it will employ artificial intelligence (AI) more extensively and reduce operational costs.
A media source states that approximately 3% of Qantas's Australian staff will be impacted by the proposed job losses. Members of the marketing, human resources, finance, and procurement departments will be restructured first. Accenture will take over some of these departments' services; its colleagues in India and Australia will handle the bulk of the work.
Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson Message to Employees
According to an email sent to staff by Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson, the changes will be phased in over a number of years, with the first stage beginning in the middle of 2027. Before making any final decisions, the airline would engage with impacted employees and unions, she noted. Businesses haven't experienced anything like the magnitude and velocity of change in this arena in generations, according to Hudson.
The organisation is aware that this decision would be hard for some employees to hear, but she emphasised that it has nothing to do with their performance or dedication. Hudson understood that the announcement could leave workers feeling unsettled. She assured them that Qantas would explore all feasible avenues for retraining, reskilling, and job redeployment in order to keep as many employees as possible on staff. In an effort to streamline its IT systems, the airline has made this move. The incompatibility of Qantas' over a thousand legacy programmes makes data and system integration a challenge.
Qantas’ Outsourcing Plans Face Criticism
The airline hopes to overcome persistent problems, speed up innovation, and incorporate AI-driven technology through its collaboration with Accenture. But the Australian Services Union (ASU) has spoken out against the outsourcing idea, expressing worry over the loss of jobs and expertise in the process. There have been a number of initiatives for staff reorganisation in Australia's corporate sector, and this announcement is only one of them. This follows such actions taken by NAB and the design site Canva.
Now Qantas has joined two other large Australian companies in a span of three weeks in announcing massive layoffs. Thousands of Qantas employees utilise AI on a regular basis, according to the company. Qantas employs around 28,000 people in Australia and another 4,000 people worldwide. Hudson stated that Qantas needed to modernise its back-end systems and that the company spends over AU$1 billion (US$691 million; £514 million) annually on technology.
