Harvey Norman and Theatre at Home management have not said how their customers will be impacted, by the mass sacking of up to 200 Optus staff as tipped last week, by ChannelNews, both these organisations use Optus as a third-party Company to carry out home installation work for their customers.
Currently Harvey Norman and Theatre at Home use the Optus O Team to install TVs and projectors as well as deliver advice for notebook owners, they also install home security systems and EV chargers at both business premises and homes in mainstream cities.
Last week we revealed that Optus had made allowances of up to $18M for the laying off of staff with up to 200 people set to go this week.
Optus set up the O Team after acquiring an external service team with 60+ staff during COVID.
This operation was then merged into an operation known as the O Team which in the past have offered their services to third party organisations such as Harvey Norman and Theatre at Home.
This week the online site for the O Team was closed down.
The move comes as Optus look to make deep cuts following last year’s national outage that cost businesses millions.
The O Team business was carrier agnostic who installed gear into homes and businesses who still wanted to retain their Telstra or Vodafone or third-party communication services.
The Australian claimed that Optus has contacted the Communication Workers Union via letter to notify them of the changes.
This is not the first time that the Singapore (via Singtel) owned Company has slashed staff. Last year they laid off 600 staff in an effort to slash costs.
The Optus online O-Team charged customers a $10 monthly fee to provide on-demand support post-installation with this service axed. At this stage physical installations are still being carried out but as union officials said, “For how long”.
Clive Dickens, Optus VP – TV, Audio, Content and Product Development told ChannelNews last year that” Consumers don’t have to buy their product from an Optus store for us to install it. You can buy a TV from JB Hi Fi or Harvey Norman and we will install the product.”
In the past all a customer had to do was Log into an Optus Smart Spaces account, Call, chat, screen, or camera share with an O-Team support technician who then worked on problems consumers faced.
That service has already been axed.
An Optus spokesperson said, “We have recently undertaken a review and are taking steps to simplify our business while still investing in those areas we know matter to our customers,” an Optus spokeswoman said. “As part of this review, we are realigning some teams across our business.”
For $899 The O Team installed an EV charger while a projector for a home theatre system, or a smart TV and soundbar cost $269.
The Australian claimed that Optus appeared to have had big dreams for the business, acquiring a number of smaller appliance installation businesses as part of a plan to grow the service nationally.
The company’s executives had also pushed the service online, with Optus networks managing director Lambo Kanagaratnam last year sharing he had the team install a solar-powered home security system.
