Gen-i shifts CBA support staff out of a job

Managed services firm Gen-i planned to move 64 staff out of their jobs next month as the Commonwealth Bank services contract they were working on ended. 

The $1billion services contract was handed to Telstra in 2008 after Gen-i decided not to contest for the renewal of the deal.

At the time the estimated handover period was set at two years but the Telecom New Zealand-owned Gen-i was unsure of how its staff would be impacted until now. 

Gen-i general manager Paul Wilson, who took over the role from Phil Varney six months ago, told CRN that 64 people from its Sydney office were impacted - as they directly provided services for that contract.

"In short there will be some people leaving Gen-i who are currently performing services. We’re talking to those people internally that are affected by the change," Wilson said.

"We've been having these conversations for some time to ensure they have all their full contract entitlements."

Wilson said some staff who have been working on the contract for the past decade would go to market; others to Telstra and possibly some would be taken up by the Commonwealth Bank. 

"There’s a lot of intellectual property there,” he said.

Various services to CBA will continue into March and up to another six months, Wilson said, "mainly in the contact centre and annuity services that we are contracted to deliver for the next few years".

Countering the departures, Wilson said he planned to hire an additional 40 people for Gen-i's growing services area.

Growth areas included managed procurement, networking services, hosting and cloud services for companies based in New Zealand and wanting to grow in Australia, Wilson said.