Sprint Cuts 800 Customer Service Jobs, but Doesn’t Foresee Companywide Layoffs

Sprint confirmed on Tuesday that it is cutting approximately 800 jobs in its customer support operations.

Most of the affected workers were notified last week, while a small number of additional positions will be cut next month, Sprint spokeswoman Jennifer Schuler said.

“This action is the result of organizational adjustments being made to meet the changing needs of our business,” Schuler said, noting that the company is getting fewer support calls since improving its customer satisfaction. “As customer satisfaction improves and in turn calls to customer care decrease, our staffing needs in this area decrease. This organizational action keeps our costs in line with these efficiencies.”

Schuler said that the company does not foresee companywide cuts.

“At this point we have no plans for any companywide layoffs — but as a corporation managing its day-to-day business, we have to continue to look at staffing in each area of the business to make sure we are aligned correctly with our financial goals and areas of growth for the company,” Schuler said. “Ultimately, there will continue to be areas where we are hiring, as well as areas where we will go down in our workforce. We certainly don’t make any decision to reduce the workforce lightly.”

Sprint employs about 40,000 workers in total, a number that Schuler said is not expected to change significantly. The company continues to hire in areas “that support our corporate strategy,” Schuler said.

The carrier previously closed 29 call centers, a move CEO Dan Hesse said was enabled by reducing customer gripes.

“Great customer service costs less,” Hesse said in a meeting with journalists last year. “When we were last in the industry, we were spending twice as much.”

The cuts, which were reported earlier Tuesday by Bloomberg, are the first since SoftBank took a majority stake in the No. 3 wireless carrier earlier this year.