Almost 200 Optus staff axed including smart home tradie department

Optus is understood to be making deep cuts into its smart home installation business, a venture it started less than three years ago.

Optus is laying off almost 200 staff from the company, making deep cuts into one of its newest business ventures, which installs smart home devices, after a recent review.

A total of 198 redundancies are taking place this week, according a telecommunications union, which described the as “deeply concerning”.

The Australian understands Optus has contacted the Communication Workers Union via letter to notify them of the changes.

“It is deeply concerning that Optus is adding another 198 redundancies to the growing list of workers who are left without a job in a cost of living crisis,” CWU national assistant secretary James Perkins told The Australian.

The telco cut 600 staff last year, a move the union believes had a major impact during the telco’s national outage in November.

“We have seen the impacts of cuts like these with the recent Optus outage, and we will continue to see service decline if they keep cutting back where they should be investing — in the Australian workforce and local network,” Mr Perkins said.

“We will continue to back our workers who deserve real job security — something that Optus doesn’t seem to be offering at the moment.

“If Optus is looking for where it can improve its service delivery to customers, improving the way they support their workforce is a great place to start.”

The Australian understands Optus is making significant cuts in the company’s O-Team, with staff in this part of the business understood to have begun receiving redundancy notices as early as Tuesday.

The nation’s second largest telco began winding down parts of the business as early as last month, discontinuing a service called the O-Team Online which it had charged customers a $10 monthly fee to provide on-demand support post-installation.

Optus has discontinued its O-Team Online service. Picture: Optus website

Its website has been updated to inform customers the service would cease on January 19 but physical installations would continue.

An Optus spokeswoman declined to reveal the full number of staff impacted when asked, telling The Australian it did not comment on lay-offs until they had been communicated to impacted staff.

While whispers about lay-offs at Optus began on Monday, it is understood the company would spend Tuesday and Wednesday handing out notices to impacted staff.

“We have recently undertaken a review and are taking steps to simplify our business while still investing in those areas we know matter to our customers,” an Optus spokeswoman said. “As part of this review, we are realigning some teams across our business.”

Optus established the O-Team in 2021 as a service which would install smart devices, including security cameras, doorbells, Smart TVs and EV chargers. EV charger installations begin at $899 while TV installations cost $269 and wireless doorbells begin at $130, according to its website.

The service was not limited to products purchased in-store, with the service also pushed from other retail partners including Harvey Norman.

Optus appears to have had big dreams for the business, acquiring a number of smaller appliance installation businesses as part of a plan to grow the service nationally.

The company’s executives had also pushed the service online, with Optus networks managing director Lambo Kanagaratnam last year sharing he had the team install a solar-powered home security system.

“Jeremy from the O-Team did a fantastic job explaining everything, setting up the cameras and positioning them so that they are set up perfectly from Day 1,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post at the time.

“Check out (the website) and remember to also get the O-Team to do the set-up and installation for you!”

It’s understood all lay-offs would have been communicated to all affected staff by 5pm Wednesday.

While some staff have been privy to the cuts, many are understood to be oblivious to the matter.

Originally published as Almost 200 Optus staff axed including smart home tradie department