Member Article

Sky to create 350 Newcastle jobs

Sky will create 350 jobs at its Newcastle contact centre, as the company invests in customer service and sales.

The roles will cater for customers joining following Sky’s acquisition of O2 and BE’s consumer broadband business.

A further 200 hires will take place across Sky’s other UK bases, including shopping centre stores, sales vehicles and city centre exhibits.

Jeremy Darroch, Sky chief executive, commented: “I’m delighted to announce our plans to expand our workforce with the creation of 550 new jobs. These new roles will help us to meet demand for our products and serve our growing customer base.

“Today’s announcement comes on top of the 700 previously announced new Sky jobs in our home installation team, bringing the total number of new Sky jobs created in the UK in 2013 to 1,250. In the past four years alone we have created 4,000 more jobs for people across UK and Ireland. I look forward to welcoming our new colleagues to Sky over the coming year.”

The announcement comes as Sky report a 6% increase in revenue to £5,381m, and a profit rise of 9% to £994m.

Mr Darroch said Sky’s multi-product strategy was yielding good results and despite a “tough consumer environment” the company continued to add subcription products to its portfolio.

North East Chamber of Commerce chief executive, James Ramsbotham, said: “This is fantastic news for the region. The service sector was one of the hardest hit during the economic downturn, but Sky’s announcement today reflects the findings of NECC’s Quarterly Economic Survey over the past year, which has seen increased optimism return to the sector and a willingness amongst firms to invest in facilities and recruitment.

“I’d like to congratulate Sky on recognising the undoubted potential of the North East workforce to deliver this project and make it a real success.

“More companies are opting to keep contact centre jobs in the UK, which represents an enormous economic opportunity for the North East.”

For more information on applying for the roles, visit the Sky careers site here.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .