Skip to main content

ESPOO, Finland – There’s no faster moving industry in the world today than mobile technology. Take a sip of water and you’re behind in the pack. Blink your eye and watch the pack move in a different direction. Nokia sipped, blinked, then set on creating a new winning strategy in this redefined landscape. This was Nokia’s first step to transformation.

The second step was creating a clear long-term strategy for profitable growth. In Smart Devices, Nokia will build a winning ecosystem together with Microsoft using their global reach, iconic products and location services. In Mobile Phones, Nokia will realign and increase its investments to connect the next billion people to the Internet, bringing great devices and rich services to the global marketplace much quicker. And beyond great mobile products, Nokia will continue to innovate and invest in future disruptions that will define the industry in years to come.

Today Nokia announced its third and fourth steps in transformation.

Nokia laid out plans to align its global workforce and consolidate its site operations to deliver upon the new strategy, as well as the projected cost savings announced last week. Nokia expects the total reduction of personnel, across all sites and countries, to total 4,000 employees (out of approximately 65,000 worldwide, not including NSN) by the end of 2012. This includes an estimated 1,400 employees in Finland. You can read more about the impacts in Finland in our Finnish blog, Nokia Ääni. Nokian suomenkielinen blogi, Nokia Ääni, kertoo tarkemmin vaikutuksista Suomessa.

Reductions are expected to take place in phases until the end of 2012, linked to the rollout of Nokia’s planned product and services portfolio. The planned reductions will have the greatest impact on the Symbian and MeeGo R&D. In addition, approximately 3,000 employees are planned to transfer to Accenture to support the continued delivery of Symbian software development and support services. In accordance with local country legal requirements, discussions with employee representatives started today.

Nokia plans to consolidate its R&D sites so that each site has a clear strategic role and mission. Consolidating sites and activities will increase speed and accountability as Nokia ramps up capabilities and competence development on each site.

“At Nokia, we have new clarity around our path forward, which is focused on our leadership across smart devices, mobile phones and future disruptions,” said Stephen Elop, Nokia president and CEO. “However, with this new focus, we also will face reductions in our workforce. This is a difficult reality, and we are working closely with our employees and partners to identify long-term re-employment programs for the talented people of Nokia.”

Transformation at Nokia is also about ramping up. Nokia is increasing its capacity for the development of Nokia smartphones based on the Windows Phone platform, as well as increasing its overall investment in Mobile Phones and building a team to focus on future disruptions.

The fourth step is launching a comprehensive social responsibility program for employees and the communities that are likely to be affected by reductions. Nokia will invest time, money and expertise in a program to support re-employment in all the countries where the impact will be felt.

Have an in-depth look at Nokia’s social responsibility program in our next post: Nokia launches comprehensive social responsibility program for employees and communities.

Read more

Nokia launches comprehensive social responsibility program for employees and communities
Nokia to transfer Symbian software activities to Accenture