Fast growing wireless and fiber-based UK-based service provider EE announced its plans to bring around 1,000 customer service roles from overseas service centers back to the UK region. The hiring drive is expected to be commenced from Spring 2014 with the first 250 roles to be landing in Northern Ireland. The landing location for the rest of the roles is expected to be announced by the company in the nearest future. Additionally, EE also plans to triple the size of its apprenticeship program to provide job opportunities for more than 1,300 job seekers by end of 2015. The program, first launched in March 2013 was a tremendous success with the company hiring nearly 80 percent of the 460 apprentices till date.
Olaf Swantee, CEO at EE, said “I’m very proud that EE is leading the UK telecoms industry, delivering not only the first but the biggest and fastest 4G network for the country. And within 18 months, I want to be able to say that EE has done for customer service in the UK what it has done for networks. And a major step towards this is returning 1,000 customer service jobs to the UK, where performance has been shown to exceed that of overseas contact centers.”
The company’s move to bring back the service roles from overseas service centers and tripling the reach of its apprenticeship program is expected to efficiently address the concern of youth unemployment in the country. These announcements come in the wake of the recent news release about EE’s significant expansion plans to newer regions in the UK during 2014.
Appreciating the move from EE to create job opportunities in the country, David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, said “It’s great news that EE is bringing over 1,000 jobs back to the UK. As part of our long term economic plan, I believe we can become the world’s leading re-shoring nation and provide new opportunities for hard working people. I’m also delighted that the successful EE apprenticeship scheme will be expanded to help even more young people develop their skills.”
The company is expected to open around 50 retail outlets during the year creating opportunities for another 350 job seekers in the retail sector. Further, EE has also announced plans to invest GBP 50 million during 2014 to bring in advanced digital tools and platforms to enable unprecedented customer service to its customers in the UK.
As noted, EE provides advanced digital communication services to residential users, enterprises, government agencies and the wholesale/retailing businesses. The company owns roughly 600 retail stores and employs around 15,000 people reaching out to around 27 million customers through its T-Mobile, EE and Orange mobile and broadband service plans.