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I often hear from industry analysts that the worst

 global recession is now over and it’s a matter of time

before  all big companies start hiring people again.

However, the story at Vodafone seems to be a little different and it is planning to axe nearly 500 jobs at its Newbury headquarters.

The Newbury headquarters currently has 3,000 Vodafone employees. 500 jobs were axed from Newbury last year as well. Though Vodafone did create new jobs in internet operations and retail, the number of jobs created is insignificant as compared to the jobs axed. Vodafone has a massive £1 billion cost cutting program for the current year so the Newbury announcement might be the first of many such bad news to follow.

It’s a sorry tale for a town which is often known as ‘Vodafone City’ and has received a massive facelift as a mid-sized technology hub, primarily because of Vodafone’s gigantic presence. Despite these job cuts, Newbury is still doing pretty well economically and creating sufficient jobs.

Job losses anywhere in the world are bad. When a company decides to terminate jobs at its high profile yet low cost headquarters, a tag line such as ‘Happy to Help’ certainly doesn’t seem apt.