Skillsoft sheds 60 jobs, EMC waits

TRAINING software maker Skillsoft, formerly SmartForce, is cutting 60 jobs in Ireland and this figure could rise to 140, while workers at EMC hope a 7% reduction in its workforce worldwide will not result in job losses here.

The SmartForce job losses are as a result of the company's merger with SkillSoft. The company said most of the job cuts were voluntary and it pledged to maintain its primary research and development operations, employing about 250 people.

And data storage company EMC, which employs more than 1,300 people in Cork and Dublin, has

announced that it will lay off 7% of its workforce worldwide after disappointing third-quarter financial results.

A spokesperson for EMC Ireland said yesterday they did not yet know how this would affect the Irish operation.

Smartforce, in a statement, said: "These cuts, in line with the company's previous statements, are proportionate with the company's post-merger staff reductions worldwide and do not represent any change in the company's long-term commitment to

locate its corporate HQ in Ireland. The company will also continue to base its primary R&D operations in Ireland, where approximately 250 staff will continue to be employed directly by the company."

Further job cuts in global tech companies could be on the cards during what Davy Stockbrokers analyst Barry Dixon called "the profit warning season", a quarterly phenomenon.

It starts when the IT sector forecasts quarterly results, Mr Dixon said.

"The latest company to pre-announce disappointing results was storage company EMC, which stated that revenues would be 10% below market expectations, while earnings would be 1% light," he said.

Mr Dixon said the market had expected signs of recovery in the second half of this year.

"From these announcements, it appears that conditions continue to deteriorate and therefore current valuations, which have some level of optimism built in, are perceived to be too high."

Earlier this year, EMC's human resources department was overwhelmed when 300 people applied for just 160 redundancies being sought by the company in Ireland.

In the end, EMC accepted all 300 offers.

Those who opted to leave were mostly aged under 30. The deals resulted in some workers receiving more than €50,000 after tax.