Verizon Carries Out Layoff Round Following Strong Q3 Results
The carrier confirmed to CRN on Wednesday that it “must adjust staffing levels in some parts of our business.”
Telecom giant Verizon carried out a round of layoffs and employee buyouts last week that impacted the Verizon Business Group, which houses the company’s channel team, and the Verizon Global Technology Solutions Group, CRN has learned.
Verizon confirmed the reduction in force to CRN on Wednesday.
“The industry-wide shift in consumer trends and expectations is driving the need for us to do things differently. This is an ongoing process as we continue looking at ways to enhance our customer’s experience, while helping to make the business more efficient,” a Verizon spokesperson said in a statement to CRN.
The spokesperson added that Verizon‘s business model must also evolve. “We must adjust staffing levels in some parts of our business. These decisions are never made lightly and we will work with employees who are impacted by these changes throughout their transition.”
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The Basking Ridge, N.J-based carrier would not confirm the number of layoffs last week, but confirmed that the job cuts do not affect the company’s channel operations.
The telecom giant in recent years has not been immune to job cuts. Verizon in 2019 spent the year working through a company-wide business and executive team restructuring and its Voluntary Separation program, which included early-retirement buyout deals to about 44,000 employees in an effort to achieve $10 billion in cumulative cash savings by 2021. That process has been completed, according to Verizon.
Verizon in October reported strong Q3 2021 earnings with operating revenue that climbed 4.3 percent compared to Q3 2020. Verizon reported diluted earnings per share of $1.55, up 47.6 percent compared with diluted earnings per share of $1.05 during third-quarter 2020.
However, total operating revenue for Verizon Business, which includes the company’s Global Enterprise Solutions, SMB, public sector and wholesale businesses, dipped slightly by .8 percent with revenues of $7.69 billion during the quarter compared with $7.75 billion in the year-ago quarter. Global Enterprise Solutions revenue, which has felt the brunt of the financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, continued its decline by 1.7 percent during Q3 2021. SMB revenue, on the other hand, grew 7.1 percent year over year during the quarter.
Verizon in October followed the lead of other telecoms and tech companies in the industry by announcing a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for all its non-union employees in the United States, which will affect the majority of its nearly 130,000-person workforce in the U.S. Non-union personnel will have to show proof of vaccination by December 8, regardless of where they work or how often they work in person, the company said.