John Deere Expected To Announce More Layoffs Next Week

Deere & Co. is planning to announce layoffs of salaried employees on July 24, 2024, according to an email sent to employees on July 15. This announcement comes as part of a series of workforce reductions the company has been implementing in recent months.

Key points about the upcoming layoffs:

• The layoffs will affect an undetermined number of salaried workers globally.

• Employees will be notified of the layoffs beginning on Wednesday, July 24.

• Salaried employees whose jobs do not require them to be onsite are asked to work from home from July 24-26 and postpone business travel.

• A global all-employee meeting will be held to provide more details about the workforce update.

• Employees being separated will receive information about severance offers and separation details.

The company cites several reasons for these layoffs:

• Declining customer demand

• Rising costs

• Prevailing economic uncertainties

• Insufficient results from previous cost-containment strategies, including a global hiring freeze

This announcement follows a series of recent layoffs by Deere & Co.:

• 345 Waterloo workers to be laid off effective September 20, 2024

• 280 employees at a Moline, Illinois factory, 299 at John Deere Davenport Works and 111 at John Deere Dubuque Works, all effective August 30, 2024

• Various other layoffs at facilities in Moline, Urbandale, Des Moines, and Waterloo in May and June 2024

In total, Deere & Co. has laid off nearly 2,000 workers between September 2023 and July 2024. The company’s financial performance has been declining, with a 15% decrease in revenue reported in the second quarter of 2024 and lowered profit forecasts for the full year. These layoffs are occurring against a backdrop of declining farm income, with USDA projecting a 25.5% decrease in net farm income for 2024 compared to the previous year.

Deere issues statement backing away from DEI.

Deere & Company issued a statement on the social media platform X that they are changing their policies on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), noting they have already focused their sponsorships on “supporting the business and brand” with their non-profit sponsorships centering on “priority areas” including hunger, economic development, eliminating poverty, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), agriculture education, and supporting veterans and the military.

Moving forward, Deere said it would “no longer participate in or support external social or cultural awareness parades, festivals, or events,” and that they will focus their business groups on “professional development, networking, mentoring, and supporting talent recruitment efforts.” The company said they would reaffirm that the existence of diversity quotas and pronoun identification “have never been and are not company policy.”

This decision comes in the wake of recent controversies and public backlash over the company’s previous DEI initiatives. The move aligns with similar actions taken by other companies in the industry, such as Tractor Supply, which recently abandoned its DEI objectives and discontinued support for non-business-related activities.