Smartforce and EMC, two of the largest technology employers here, are expected to announce hundreds of job cuts at their Irish operations later today as both report quarterly financial results.
SmartForce, one of the most successful indigenous high-tech firms, may cut between 10 and 20 per cent of its global workforce as it struggles to cut costs following a profit warning two weeks ago.
Analysts said yesterday that Irish jobs would undoubtedly be affected by the restructuring but the exact numbers were difficult to estimate. Ms Bernie Lardner, technology analyst with Davy Stockbrokers, said the firm did not traditionally keep a low cost base and the danger was that the firm would not cut enough to reach profit.
SmartForce employs about 500 people at its R&D operations in the Republic and it is expected to tell its staff today about the depth of the cuts required.
SmartForce, which provides e-learning products to businesses, warned recently that its revenue would be a third of that previously forecast.
Meanwhile, EMC, the data storage firm which employs about 1,400 people in Cork, will today confirm that 300 staff have taken voluntary redundancy. The firm announced previously that it would seek 160 voluntary redundancies but received more applications than expected.
A spokeswoman said yesterday the company had decided to accept the extra voluntary redundancies to reduce the prospect of further cost-cutting in Cork.
