iSoft restructuring puts jobs at risk

ISoft is working on a restructuring project that could lead to almost a third of its UK front line support and delivery staff being made redundant.

Documents seen by E-Health Insider show that despite reporting a 137% increase in its full year net profits to the Australian stock market last week, the company will be merging “the application of support and service delivery into customer service” and “disparate technical teams into a unified team” in the UK.

The restructure could see iSoft reduce the headcount for the departments from 193 to 131. An iSoft staff member, whose job could be under threat, told EHI that: “Morale is poor with a lot of people feeling let down.

“We had no pay rise to save jobs, but this seems not to matter. We are being told it is being done not to save costs but to restructure the business to meet customer requirements.”

A spokesperson for iSoft confirmed the company is restructuring and that it is in a 90 day consultation period on the proposals. He said: “There is a reorganisation of the business in the UK which involves the merging of support and delivery services.

“As a consequence there is a potential for redundancies to be made and as part of the 90-day consultation period that we have to go through by law, we have had to warn staff of this.”

One of the documents seen by EHI is a series of group consultation questions that takes the form of a Q&A between iSoft staff and management. It says that if redundancies are made, they will be effective at the end of October.

ISoft is not offering “gardening leave” or voluntary redundancy. “The proposed restructure is about getting the best fit possible with the changing needs of the customer base,” it says.

“A process of allowing voluntary redundancies does not assist in this goal and risks disappointment when refused.”

The Q&A also says: “There is increasing activity from companies attempting to enter the market place and from small niche companies who are attempting to take our customer base.”

EHI has also seen a copy of an email that was sent to iSoft staff on Tuesday. It says the company expects "professional, business orientation communications" from staff and that discussing details of the restructure with third parties "would be outside of their remit."

ISoft is contracted to deliver its electronic patient record software Lorenzo to the North, Midlands and East of England under the national programme.

Despite delays to the delivery of the software, last week’s results show that its contract with CSC under NPfIT is its largest single contract, representing about 23% of group revenue in FY09.

The company also has a substantial installed base of older systems in the UK, and has recently secured deals with a number of trusts to keep these running.

Link: iSoft