EDS offers early retirement to 12,000 staff

Employees to be offered severance package after orders plunged at outsourcing giant

Early retirement option is offered to 12,000 EDS staff

Outsourcing giant EDS plans to offer early retirement to nearly a quarter of its US workforce following a plunge in orders during the last financial quarter.

Staff have until 30 October to accept the severance package, which is being offered to 12,000 eligible employees.

The company's US workforce totals around 50,000 employees. The firm does not have an estimate for how many people will accept the package.

Shares in EDS have fallen 15 per cent since 1 August, when a 20 per cent drop in bookings was announced.