The Scotsman: 2800 IT staff face Shell axe

28 April 04

TROUBLED oil giant Shell has announced plans to axe up to 2800 staff at its information technology division.

The division has sites and staff in the UK, the Netherlands, the United States and Malaysia, and while the group has refused to say how countries and sites will be affected, it is believed Scottish workers will not be hit by the move.

Shell said it intends to cut between 1900 and 2800 jobs from the 9300-strong workforce in its technology division by the end of 2006. The group expects the move to save it £475.3 million.

It plans to achieve the job cuts by outsourcing operations to India and Malaysia and through rationalisation and standardisation of infrastructure, a spokeswoman said.

"This is not just about cutting jobs. It is about looking at how we can improve efficiency by streamlining systems and infrastructure," she said.

Shell’s finance chief, Judy Boynton, resigned earlier this month in the latest chapter of the crisis involving the company’s overstatement of its oil and gas reserves. 

http://business.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=480162004