{"id":587448,"date":"2026-04-07T06:18:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T06:18:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/587448\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T06:18:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T06:18:26","slug":"telus-boosts-head-count-but-sheds-canadian-jobs-as-it-reduces-staff-in-core-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/587448\/","title":{"rendered":"Telus boosts head count but sheds Canadian jobs as it reduces staff in core business"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Telus headquarters in downtown Vancouver in 2023. Canada\u2019s largest phone and internet companies have been reducing their telecom-related work forces in recent years.DARRYL DYCK\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Vancouver-based Telus Corp. grew by nearly 5,000 employees in 2025 but shed 2,800 jobs in Canada, extending a trend of telecom companies reducing head count in their core businesses in recent years.<\/p>\n

As of the end of 2025, Telus had 111,500 employees, up from 106,800 at the end of 2024 \u2013 a 4.5 per cent increase, according to the company\u2019s annual report. <\/p>\n

Of those employees, the company said, 85,100 work for its technology outsourcing division, Telus Digital, which provides artificial intelligence and data capabilities for Telus and external clients. This segment gained 6,100 employees last year.<\/p>\n

That growth reflects global demand for AI-powered customer services, Telus spokesperson Steve Beisswanger said in an e-mail Monday.<\/p>\n

The remaining 26,400 employees work at the company\u2019s other business lines, including its telecom services and Telus Health. This group lost 1,400 employees last year. <\/p>\n

Telus planning to offer direct-to-cell satellite services in late 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s largest phone and internet companies have been reducing their telecom-related work forces in recent years, as they aim to lower expenses and reduce debt, while implementing new technology they say makes them more efficient. Some of those job losses have been offset by acquisitions. <\/p>\n

This was also the case for Telus. Last May, Telus Health acquired Workplace Options<\/a>, an employee health business based in Raleigh, N.C. <\/p>\n

Before the acquisition, Alan King, Workplace Options chief executive officer, said in a LinkedIn post that his company employed more than 1,300 people. Workplace Options\u2019 current LinkedIn page shows a similar number of employees, mainly based in the U.S. and India.<\/p>\n

This suggests that the 2025 job declines outside of Telus Digital would have been steeper without inclusion of the Workplace Options employees. <\/p>\n

The overall number of Telus employees in Canada fell by 2,800 to 25,200 in 2025, according to the company\u2019s annual report, which was released late last Thursday. <\/p>\n

The proportion of Canadian workers to international workers has declined in recent years, as the company has focused its efforts in expanding its reach internationally. Canadian workers made up 22 per cent of its overall work force in 2025, down from 35 per cent from five years ago and 56 per cent from a decade ago.<\/p>\n

Mr. Beisswanger said the company is transitioning responsibilities for its Telus Digital business to Canadian leadership and \u201cunlocking meaningful synergies,\u201d while deploying new technology \u201cto drive international revenue growth, supported by targeted expansion in key markets.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the company expects the reintegration of Telus Digital<\/a> will deliver between $150-million and $200-million in annual cash savings, without providing a timeline. Telus spun out its digital operations through an initial public offering in 2021 and reacquired the business in October. <\/p>\n

The company, he said, is \u201cstreamlining select European operations\u201d as part of a broader consolidation strategy, noting that the \u201ceconomics of the sector,\u201d including a decline in cellphone pricing in Canada, is shaping how it deploys capital.<\/p>\n

Telus investigating hack of its digital services arm<\/a><\/p>\n

This year, Telus continued ongoing voluntary buyout efforts, offering severance packages<\/a> to about 700 employees, the same amount as in the previous year<\/a>. The company said these were fuelled by rapid transformation in the telecom industry and growing customer demand for self-serve options.<\/p>\n

Those given offers include technicians that do installation and repair, as well as call-centre agents who serve business accounts, the company said in January. <\/p>\n

Telus\u2019s rivals, Bell Canada parent company BCE Inc. BCE-T<\/a> and Rogers Communications Inc. RCI-B-T<\/a>, also logged substantial changes to their 2025 employee counts in their recent annual reports. <\/p>\n

Bell dropped 1,700 net jobs in 2025<\/a>, the second year in a row of major losses, as it and other telecoms aim to streamline operations as they contend with slow growth, price competition and stagnant population size.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Rogers increased its overall employee count by 1,000<\/a> in the year, a number which included for the first time the addition of about 3,000 employees that work for Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. Rogers acquired the majority stake in MLSE last year when it bought Bell\u2019s share for $4.7-billion. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Telus headquarters in downtown Vancouver in 2023. Canada\u2019s largest phone and internet companies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-587448","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-ca","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-foreign-news","27":"tag-globe-and-mail","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","30":"tag-government","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-news","39":"tag-northwest-territories","40":"tag-nova-scotia","41":"tag-nunavut","42":"tag-ontario","43":"tag-pei","44":"tag-photos","45":"tag-political-news","46":"tag-political-opinion","47":"tag-politics","48":"tag-politics-news","49":"tag-quebec","50":"tag-sports-news","51":"tag-technology","52":"tag-travel","53":"tag-trudeau","54":"tag-us-news","55":"tag-world-news","56":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}