US security software company Symantec is understood to have laid off 20-30 staff at its European Operations Centre in Dublin yesterday.
Best-known for its Norton anti-virus software, Symantec is the latest multinational here to reduce its workforce. In January, its parent corporation in the US announced that it was looking to reduce its costs by $200 million (€150 million). It plans to achieve this by reducing its workforce by 5 per cent, closing some offices, reducing its reliance on contractors and putting a freeze on recruitment.
The company would not confirm the number of job losses in Ireland, but in a statement said it had begun the process of reducing its headcount by five per cent.
Symantec employs about 17,500 worldwide and more than 900 at its European Operations Centre at Ballycoolin Industrial Estate in Dublin. A spokesman for IDA Ireland said it was aware that a review was under way at Symantec but he said the agency believed any reduction in the company's Irish numbers would be very small.
Symantec set up in Ireland in 1991 and employment had grown rapidly in recent years, with more than 200 staff being added in the last three years. Last summer, it opened an additional 176,000 sq ft building on its Ballycoolin site.
Symantec's Dublin operations carry out a number of pan-European and worldwide functions, including product ordering, finance, technical support, translation and IT for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as manufacturing and distribution for all markets outside the Americas. It is understood yesterday's job losses were predominantly in the area of technical support.
