Ericsson has announced changes to its operations in Sweden.
They include the shedding of 3,000 positions in production, R&D and sales and administration, through a combination of voluntary and forced reductions, as well as other measures such as outsourcing.
At the same time, the company intends to recruit about 1,000 R&D positions in Sweden over the coming three years, mainly from universities, to support its competence buildup in new technology and customer domains.
Commenting on the development, Jan Frykhammar, president and CEO, Ericsson, said: “Ericsson is going through a large transformation. We continue to have a strong focus on R&D, and since many years, most Ericsson employees work in software development and services, rather than hardware production. The measures are necessary to secure Ericsson’s long term competitiveness as well as technology and services leadership.”
Ulf Ewaldsson, chief strategy and CTO, added: “We have a clear goal that our R&D in Sweden should be world leading, not least in next generation systems. In the short term we have to reduce the number of positions in R&D, primarily within administrative roles. At the same time our intention is to bring in new competence in new technologies. Therefore, we intend to recruit approximately 1,000 engineers in Sweden, primarily from universities, over the coming three years.”
Ericsson currently employs around 16,000 people in Sweden.
