Computer giant Dell is axing up to five per cent of its 17,500-strong EMEA workforce in a cost-cutting exercise.

The firm told staff today that it has been forced to scale back its operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to ensure its “future success and competitiveness”.

Earlier this month it announced a massive ten per cent slim-down of its global workforce to reduce expenses by at least $3bn annually by 2011.

Dell told staff in a memo today that it will “be removing a number of roles in EMEA as well as redeploying people into customer-facing roles.

“It also means we will be reducing our total staff numbers across the region. While we are still confirming the detail of these changes in consultation with employees and their representatives, we anticipate making reductions in our staffing levels across EMEA over the year of between four and five per cent from a workforce of 17,500. These changes will vary by country and by department.”

In an official statement, Dell said its latest round of job cuts were necessary to “deliver long-term profitable growth”.

It also took the opportunity to boast that it has delivered “the strongest portfolio of products and services in the company’s history” over the past year.

Despite that claim, Dell has been struggling in recent months to regain ground it has lost to a robust Hewlett-Packard, which last year grabbed the number one spot from its arch rival in total worldwide PC shipments.

The firm has also been rejigging its biz model in a painful restructuring exercise that saw Dell finally climb into bed with the channel after years of shunning the resellers – favoured by so many other computer vendors – in favour of selling its boxes direct to customers.

It seems that much of that shift in strategy is now directly affecting Dell staff, with roles becoming largely redundant following the firm’s change of stance on how it should punt its kit. ®