Rumours are emerging that mid-ranking employees within Everything Everywhere (EE) are growing increasingly unhappy at facing job cuts, having seen the company defend any suggestions that its senior management structure is very top-heavy.
In an attempt to explain why the size of its senior management workforce was twice the size of that seen within O2 UK and Vodafone UK, an EE spokesman said that it could justify the level due to the scale of the integration needed to combine the two UK network operations and the task to manage the nearly 30 million customers on the Orange and T-Mobile networks.
"Putting two companies together is such a difficult task. Only 30 per cent of mergers actually work, and our structure and process is to ensure we are at the top of that 30 per cent band. There is a huge focus on that--on making sure the businesses and cultures fit, and operate as a single entity. It requires extra staff, and senior staff, to see that through," said a somewhat beleaguered EE employee.
Presently, EE's top management includes at least 22 VPs, working under four heads. Nine of the VPs report directly to CEO Tom Alexander. The remaining VPs report to either the CFO, chief development officer or chief commercial officer, all of whom report to Alexander. The company also has around 100 directors that report to the VPs.
Sources within O2 and Vodafone described the number of directors reporting to the senior team as "staggering". These firms currently have eight and 10 heads or directors respectively reporting to the UK CEOs.
Insiders within EE also maintain that the number of its VPs could increase further with some directors anticipating a move up to becoming vice presidents--without a clear remit being obvious.
Market analysts believe that EE is currently paying out more than double what its operator rivals pay to remunerate senior management staff, costing EE several million Pounds per annum.
The size and composition of EE's management structure was agreed mid-year by a supervisory board of directors consisting of personnel from EE, France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom.
For more:
- see this Mobile News article
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