Staff at Boston Scientific’s Cork plant told to work from home as IT outage enters second day

Staff at Boston Scientific’s Cork plant have been told that those who can work from home should do so, as an IT outage continues to hit the multinational for the second day.

In an email to all staff, Catherine Stoessel, the company’s senior vice president and chief information officer, said “on-site requirements” would be determined on a case-by case basis.

It comes after more than 7,000 staff across Boston Scientific’s three Irish plants in Cork, Clonmel, and Galway were yesterday informed of a global network outage affecting the company’s operations worldwide.

The company employs an estimated 1,200 people at its Model Farm Rd plant in Cork, which was established in 1997.

In her email, received by Irish staff at 4am, Ms Stoessel said: “Recovery operations will take place in phases, with sites and areas prioritised by business need”.

She added that “employees who can work from home should do so while investigation and recovery efforts continue.

“On-site shift requirements will be determined on a case-by-case basis and employees will be informed accordingly.” 

Staff were warned to expect delays, as the company’s IT support team continued its “recovery efforts”.

The company has remained tight-lipped regarding the exact nature and scale of the outage.

It eventually responded to multiple requests for comment yesterday by saying: “During this early stage of assessment, we are working to understand the potential impact and restore normal operations”.

Staff on yesterday’s day shift at Model Farm Rd plant were sent home at 2pm with full pay, while contract staff on the evening shift were subsequently sent home and told they would be given four hours’ pay.

Full-time evening shift staff at Cork were offered the same terms but declined, saying they were making themselves available for work.

Staff in the company’s plants at Clonmel and Galway are understood to have been told on Tuesday afternoon that they would not be required to work their shifts and could instead take unpaid leave or annual leave.

Boston Scientific, a US biotechnology and biomedical multinational, was founded in 1979 in Massachusetts as a holding company for the medical products company Medi-Tech, and employs an estimated 59,000 people worldwide.