Will Hill plans lay-offs to consolidate telephone betting & CS teams

UK bookmaker William Hill has begun a 60-day consultation period with employees within the company’s  telephone betting operations and customer services teams, as it looks to consolidate the two departments.

William Hill confirmed that the consultation did not involve a wider review of the whole Gibraltar business, and was solely related to its telephone betting operations in Gibraltar and the company's customer services team in Sheffield, UK.

Some 80 jobs are said to be at risk.

The duties of each department are to be taken over by business process outsourcing company Capita, with a William Hill spokesperson explaining that the decision was taken “in order to deliver operational and cost benefits for the business and make telephone betting more sustainable in the long-term.”

In its most recent results for the third quarter of 2013, William Hill recorded an operating loss of £1.3m from its telephone business, with gross win falling 25 per cent year-on-year.

The spokesperson explained that with the company becoming increasingly focused on its online gaming offering, William Hill would look to reinvest savings in expanding other departments, including its social media team.

As a result, the spokesperson continued, the employees who are in danger of being laid off are being encouraged to apply for new roles in these divisions, with “up to 19” positions having “been identified as positions that will suit the skillsets for those on consultation.”

Shares in William Hill plc (Co. Data) (LSE:WMH) are currently trading up 1.35 per cent at 375.70 pence per share as at 09:59 GMT in London this morning.