There are fears of job cuts at outsourcing firm Covalen, which provides services to social media giant Meta.
The company said it has commenced consultation with some of its staff in relation to potential redundancies within its Dublin operations.
“Covalen is engaging with the teams potentially impacted and is providing career planning advice and options for redeployment,” a spokesperson said.
“All employees in scope have the full support of the Covalen’s Employee Assistance Programme,” the spokesperson added.
“Demand changes in the business can be common and require scaling both up and down,” Covalen said.
The company did not disclose the number of potentially impacted employees and declined to comment on a report by The Journal that staff have been informed that around 400 jobs are at risk.
Covalen provides content moderation and AI training services for Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Meta said it would not be commenting on the potential redundancies.
The Department of Enterprise said it has not received a collective redundancy notification from Covalen.
Such a notification is required in cases of 30 or more proposed redundancies.
The Communications Workers’ Union (CWU) represents hundreds of staff at Covalen and the union branded the timing of the announcement, so close to Christmas, as “callous”.
“There is no business rationale for these sweeping proposed job cuts, and we are seeking an urgent meeting with the company to discuss how best to minimise potential job losses,” said CWU Deputy General Secretary, Ian McArdle.
“The heartless timing of the announcement has left workers reeling given that Covalen and its main client, Meta, are hugely profitable,” he said.
“The CWU stands firmly with the workers of Covalen. We will support every measure necessary to defend their rights and ensure they are treated with dignity at this critically important time of year,” Mr McArdle said.
