July 25th UPDATE: The Iowa Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification states 69 employees were laid off at the John Deere Waterloo Works and 34 employees at the Dubuque Works facility. The WARN log also shows 67 employees laid off at John Deere Financial in Johnston, Iowa. The number of affected workers in Illinois remains unclear.
Starting today, John Deere is laying off salaried employees. Workers were asked to work from home virtually to lay off employees privately. At nine a.m., employees received a call about their lay-off.
John Deere has already let go over a thousand employees this year. It’s unknown how many are being let go during this period.
Affected employees will receive payment for earned and unused vacation, health and wellness benefits, 12 months of a professional job placement service, pro-rated short-term incentive compensation, long-term incentive cash compensation, and up to twelve months of severance.
The layoff is partially due to the 20% decline in customer sales, rising costs, and the transfer of work to Mexico.
This period of layoffs will continue until Friday, July 26.
This is John Deere's email reply. They did not answer any of WVIK's questions.
STATEMENT:
As the largest global manufacturer of agricultural equipment, John Deere, like many others in our industry, faces significant economic challenges, rising operational and manufacturing costs, and reduced customer demand, including a 20 percent decline in sales from 2023 to 2024.
- This reduction in product demand and increased operational costs have unfortunately forced us to make tough decisions including layoffs at John Deere production facilities and reductions in our global salaried workforce.
We are committed to providing assistance and benefits to affected salaried employees. As part of this pledge, we are extending the following support to affected salaried employees in the U.S.:
· Up to 12 months of severance based on years of service
· Pro-rated short-term incentive (STI) and long-term incentive cash (LTIC) compensation benefits
· Payment for any earned and unused vacation or paid time off and other factors
· Access to ongoing health and wellness benefits and 12 months of professional job placement services
While the decision to reduce roles across the company was a challenging one, the company is confident that these adjustments, coupled with our ongoing efforts to reduce costs and align production and inventory levels, will position John Deere strongly for the future.
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