Atkins cutting almost 600 transportation jobs

We have learnt today that 2,900 Atkins staff have received an email warning of impending headcount cuts of up to 20% ie 600 staff, in advance of government spending cuts on transportation infrastructure. This follows 1,800 redundancies across Atkins last year, which left their transportation group largely untouched as profits were strong and expected to continue to rise.

An Atkins spokesman declared that “We are in discussion with colleagues in our highways and transportation business following anticipated public sector spending cuts on transportation projects“. They added that “The uncertainty of the impact of UK public spending cuts continues and we are prepared for a period of tighter Government spending”.

The consultation process for these redundancies is expected to last 4 months, with some employees finishing as soon as October.

This echoes the announcement earlier this month from WSP, another global engineering consultancy, that they are cutting 50 jobs, as they also prepare for a slowdown in government spending on highways.