MultiChoice to retrench more than 2 000 employees

Pay-TV MultiChoice has announced plans to retrench more than 2 000 employees in the call- and walk-in centres of its business, due to a “strategic realignment of its customer service delivery model”.

In a statement, the company said that customers are “increasingly moving away from traditional voice calls and visits to walk-in centres and adopting new self-service and digital technologies to engage with the company.

2 194 employees were given notice on retrenchment, but MultiChoice Group chief executive Calvo Mawela said the restructuring will make new roles available “for multi-skilled employees with the expertise, skills and technological prowess to enhance the customer experience”.

However, media worker trade union ICT said in a statement that “the Union has not been officially informed, which makes the process unlawful”.