About eight weeks after Deere & Co. sent out a letter discussing plans to lay off global salaried employees, the company says an official layoff announcement is scheduled for July 24.
This decision also comes on the heels of an email sent to employees on July 15, indicating the upcoming workforce reductions. These layoffs, according to Deere, are part of a broader strategy the company has been implementing to adjust its workforce in recent months.
The layoffs will affect a number of salaried workers worldwide that has yet to be revealed. Deere says that the affected employees will begin receiving notifications on Wednesday, July 24. Those whose roles do not require them to be onsite have been asked to work from home from July 24 to July 26 and to postpone any business travel during this period. A global meeting will be held to provide more detailed information about the workforce changes. Employees who are being laid off will receive information regarding severance offers and other separation details.
Deere & Co. has cited several reasons for these layoffs, including declining customer demand, rising costs, and ongoing economic uncertainties. The company has also noted that previous cost-containment strategies, such as a global hiring freeze, have not yielded the desired results. This announcement comes on the heels of several other recent layoffs by the company.
It has already laid off 345 workers in Waterloo, Iowa, effective September 20, 2024, and 280 employees at a Moline, Illinois, factory. Furthermore, 299 employees at John Deere Davenport Works and 111 at John Deere Dubuque Works are also scheduled to be laid off by August 30, 2024. Various other layoffs have occurred at facilities in Moline, Urbandale, Des Moines, and Waterloo throughout May and June 2024. In total, nearly 2,000 workers have been laid off between September 2023 and July 2024.
The company’s financial performance has been under pressure, with a reported 15 percent decrease in revenue in the second quarter of 2024 and lowered profit forecasts for the entire year. These layoffs are happening in the context of declining farm income, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture projecting a 25.5 percent decrease in net farm income for 2024 compared to the previous year.
But things have been rocky elsewhere for the company, too. This week, Deere issued a statement on the social media platform X, indicating a shift in their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies. The company noted that its sponsorships would now focus on “supporting the business and brand,” with nonprofit sponsorships centered on priority areas such as hunger, economic development, eliminating poverty, STEM education, agricultural education, and support for veterans and the military.