The effect of the strategic changes on personnel will be significant, according to company CEO Stephen Elop. The exact form of the job reductions, where they will hit and when, will be clarified in the coming weeks and months.
In the corridors of the company’s Head Office in Espoo, the response was calm. Employees said that the new co-operation could bring a lot of benefits to Nokia.
”Sure, employees have been talking about the the co-operation with Microsoft,” said shop steward Mikko Lintunen. ”I’m looking at today’s news positively. There are big opportunities now.”
The message to workers in Espoo was that research and development work would only continue in Finland if it was competitive. Lintunen said that changes would affect workers at all levels of the company.
The switch to Windows will affect lots of workers in Finland. For instance in Oulu, Nokia has around 2,000 employees. Of those around 500 work in Symbian development, and 400 on MeeGo.
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