Since its merger with Shaw Communications in 2021, Rogers Communications has created approximately 2,600 jobs across Western Canada, primarily in British Columbia and Alberta, as part of conditions set by federal regulators for approving the deal.
Job Creation Commitment
The jobs were generated as part of a pledge to net 3,000 positions in Western Canada—including Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba—within five years of the merger's closure. In 2021, then-Shaw CEO Brad Shaw and then-Rogers CEO Joe Natale jointly announced that roughly 1,800 of those promised jobs would be located in Alberta.
Zac Carreiro, a company spokesperson, confirmed the total number of jobs added in an emailed statement on Wednesday but did not specify how many were created in Alberta alone.
Voluntary Buyouts Announced
Five years later, Rogers has made headlines again after spokespeople confirmed that it is offering voluntary buyouts to 10,000 employees, approximately half of its workforce. Carreiro stated in the same email that most of those buyouts are in Ontario.
Marco Bijvank, a professor of operations and supply management at the University of Calgary, said he is not surprised by the buyout news, as it follows similar moves by competitors Telus and Bell to reduce employee numbers in recent years. Merging with Shaw also meant taking on the company's $6 million in pre-existing debt. “It makes sense that they are now changing their focus on being more cost-effective,” Bijvank said.
Cost-Cutting Measures
Carreiro echoed this sentiment in a statement to Postmedia on Monday. “We are taking steps to adjust our cost structure to reflect the business realities of the current environment,” he said. “As part of this, some teams have chosen to offer voluntary departure and retirement programs to give some employees the choice to decide whether they’d like to stay with the company or begin a new chapter.”
Impact on Customer Service
Bijvank added that shifting toward cost-effective measures signals an impact on consumer services, particularly customer service. “It signals that they are going to invest less in providing customer service,” he said. “It basically means more automation, more AI and bots will be used for customer service.”
He noted that consumers are unlikely to see significant price changes following the buyouts, given the oligopolistic nature of the telecom industry. “They might expect that prices will go down because of the lesser cost associated with having fewer employees,” he said. “But that’s not going to happen, as it’s more about making sure that the debt is taken care of, rather than lowering prices for customers.”
