Citing falling revenues (despite an increase in sales), British phone company BT Group announced plans to cut 6% of its workforce today. At a total of 10,000 jobs, the layoffs will affect mostly contractors and subcontractors of BT rather than direct employees. The company does intend to slow hiring of direct employees, though, by not replacing those who retire or leave. The firm hopes to cut costs by 1.2 billion before the end of the fiscal year, adding potential reductions to pension plan costs to the effort as well.
See "BT Group to Cut 10,000 Jobs", Julia Werdigier, The New York Times, November 12, 2008