Introduction: After months of tough negotiations between the telecommunications company and employee representatives, Telefónica’s ERE (Employment Regulation Plan) has concluded with a total of 3,640 requests for voluntary resignation, surpassing the company’s official target by 106.4%, as reported by the UGT union.
The agreement between Telefónica and its employees involved a restructuring of 3,421 positions. Ultimately, after reviewing the voluntary resignation requests to ensure they met the criteria, 3,393 resignations were finalized, eliminating the need for forced layoffs in Telefónica’s Spain, Mobile, and Solutions divisions.
According to the union, “it demonstrates that the exit conditions achieved during negotiations by UGT have been the most beneficial to date, a matter widely supported by the workforce.”
Analysis of Requests and Acceptance: Over the next week, the company will analyze the submitted requests to align them with the quotas agreed upon in the agreement with employee representatives, as some areas may exceed these quotas. Currently, the company has accepted 2,946 requests in Telefónica Spain; 391 in Telefónica Mobile; and 56 in Telefónica Solutions, according to data provided by UGT.
The final days saw a significant increase in the acceptance of these requests, with over 800 submissions received during the last two days of the registration period.
Starting from Tuesday, the company will begin notifying applicants of their acceptance into the ERE plan, and the termination of their contracts will take place on February 29th. With this workforce restructuring, the company incurs a total cost of approximately 380,000 euros per employee in terms of salary benefits, totaling 1.3 billion euros for Telefónica.
Comparison and Impact: Despite the success of the call, the 2024 Employment Regulation Plan has had a lesser impact than previous voluntary resignation plans, where the company incurred costs exceeding 571,000 euros per employee.
The ERE affects employees who are 56 years old or older in 2024 and have been with the company for more than 15 years. They will receive bonuses of 68% for those born in 1968, 52% of their salary until the age of 63, and 34% until the age of 65 for the most senior employees. Additionally, employees opting for this regulation plan receive an additional voluntary bonus of 10,000 euros.