Sharp announced yesterday that about 3,000 employees have accepted company’s plan of voluntary redundancies in Japan in a dramatic workforce reduction by the Japanese electronics manufacturer at a time of great financial difficulty.
The group said that 2,960 employees have applied to leave the company. Sharp originally intended not to lay off more than 2,000 employees in this way, but there have been numerous requests for voluntary layoffs.
These departures, which will be effective from December 15 and will be accompanied by financial compensation, will imply a cost of 25.3 billion yen (€250 million) in the third quarter of fiscal year 2012-2013 (between October and December ), it said in a statement released by Sharp.
The group stressed that the costs for the voluntary departures were already taken into account during the last submission of annual forecasts on November first and the company expected a net loss of 450 billion yen (€4.5 billion euros). Sharp revenues were affected by lower sales of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) for television sets and a continued drop in prices.
Faced with formidable competition from other major Asian groups, particularly South Korean and Taiwanese, Sharp group announced in August a plan of shedding 5,000 jobs worldwide, the majority in Japan, from an estimated total of 57,000 employees – a first since 1950.
In a very precarious financial situation, the group announced in recent months salary decreases of 7% – 10% for employees in Japan and the mortgaging, almost entirely, of land and real estate property in Japan to ensure new bank loans. Japanese company seeks partners in the electronics and computer sectors in order to stabilize its financial situation. According to Japanese media, Sharp began discussions with several American giants in these sectors to inject funds into company’s accounts. Sharp also plans to sell manufacturing plants and shares in other companies, specifically, Toshiba.
The Japanese electronics giant wants to return to profitability before April of 2013.
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