The state-owned Romanian Post has laid off 11 percent of its total workforce, leaving 3,650 former employees looking for new jobs.

According to the post office, of the total number of employees recently laid off, 2,392 opted for collective redundancies while the rest were selected through professional testing.

The measure is part of the post office’s restructuring process which aims to restore the balance between the amount of postal services and the number of employees, in order to make itself more competitive.

“Romanian Post’s management team aims mainly at increasing revenues, reducing costs and strengthening the company’s leading position on the market, in the context of the postal market liberalization as of January 1, 2013,” reads a statement of the company.

The more than 3,600 employees recently laid off will receive total compensatory payments of some EUR 1.7 million (RON 7.4 million) by the end of the year from the unemployment insurance budget.

The Romanian post office had about 32,000 employees before the layoffs. At the end of 2012 the company had debts of some EUR 127 million (RON 568 million) and a turnover of around EUR 269 million (RON 1.2 billion).

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com