WPP ScanGroup CEO announces layoffs in two weeks due to a voluntary early exit scheme aimed at reducing staff in the company. The voluntary exercise will run from April 28th to May 15th, 2023, after which a firing exercise may follow if the target number of employees is not reached.
The move towards automation and technology is believed to be the reason behind the layoffs. The affected staff are those under any company under WPP ScanGroup including Ogilvy, MediaCom and Scanad
Yesterday the WPP ScanGroup CEO Patricia Ithau announced the voluntary early exit move at a town hall for staff. Confirming the announcement, a WPP ScanGroup staff member who did not wish to be named for fear of victimisation, said “It is a tough time for us”.
Our source has revealed that should the number of voluntary exits be insufficient, a firing exercise will commence through a declaration of redundancy.
This comes just hours after the WPP Scangroup PLC announced a record KES 75m profit after tax in FY2022 compared to a loss after tax of KES 38m in FY2021.
It is speculated that the move to reduce staff under WPP ScanGroup has been there due to adoption of AI and automation in its operations aiming to further increase the profit margins.
The WPP ScanGroup has revealed that it has deployed OPTIMUS, a marketing automation tool to drive customer acquisition, growing customer lifetime value at scale and speed. It used machine learning and data analytics. It targets ads to customers and defines the target audience for maximum reach. Further, it runs internal tests of AiQ, an intelligent tool similar to ChatGPT.
What’s next for tens of employees facing the playoff?
