Nokia announces it will "align" workforce, we translate - “lay off”

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Nokia announces it will "align" workforce, we translate - “lay off”
You might have noticed that Nokia’s PR is in English, but PR English often begs for a translation into real English. Nokia has just announced that it will “align” its workforce: “Nokia today announced plans to take additional actions to align its workforce and operations.” Now, that’s an innocent English verb, mind you, but make no mistake - it’s merely a circumlocutious, periphrastic way to say Nokia is firing people, or laying them off, if you prefer.

The mealymouthed Nokia confirmed that the first “alignment” will happen in Eastern Europe, Romania in particular where the company’s factory will close its doors by the end of the year resulting in 2,200 people losing their jobs.

Secondly, Nokia will cut closer to the bone - in its homeland of Finland, but also in Hungary and Mexico. Staff there will have some time to prepare as the cuts are expected to happen in 2012. The Mexican factory is responsible for Nokia’s North American shipments, but now its role will be refocused to market-specific software and sales package customization. The change in Location and Commerce business will lead to cuts of 1,300 jobs.

"We are seeing solid progress against our strategy, and with these planned changes we will emerge as a more dynamic, nimble and efficient challenger," Stephen Elop, CEO of Nokia said. "We must take painful, yet necessary, steps to align our workforce and operations with our path forward."

Hit the press link below, if merely for a full taste of the roundabout language used in the beginning.

source: Nokia

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