14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is making some additional staff changes in the United Kingdom, but this time they’re not job cuts and are not related to the Brexit vote in any way.
The company is relocating approximately 50 employees from the Reading headquarters to Dublin, according to a new report, with the firm currently discussing with partners the possibility of hiring the affected workers.
Out of the 50 employees, 20 are full-time Microsoft workers, while the other 30 are contractors. Bytes, Softcat, and Insight have been contacted by the software giant over taking on the relocated staff, but a decision in this regard is yet to be made.
As far as the Dublin relocation is concerned, Microsoft is believed to be moving staff to Ireland as part of the opening of a new hub in the country that would employ approximately 600 people, most of them focused on sales activities. It’s being speculated that the 50 people relocated from Reading could be included in these 600 jobs, though a confirmation is not yet available.
Microsoft in the United Kingdom
Microsoft cut thousands of jobs in the last few years, most of them as the company struggled to integrate Nokia’s Devices and Services unit whose acquisition was started by former CEO Steve Ballmer.
The layoffs took place in stages and were scheduled to complete in late 2016, with many of them affecting the mobile unit, not only in the United States, but also in Finland and in other essential markets across the world.
As far as the United Kingdom is concerned, Microsoft has also made some changes to its sales strategy as a result of the Brexit vote, with pricing of some products increased in order to cope with the evolution of the British pound.
The Surface lineup, for example, is now more expensive in the United Kingdom, and so are cloud services, with Microsoft still keeping an eye on the market to determine whether other adjustments are necessary.