FedEx to cull up over 10% of management jobs

FedEx Corp. is cutting more than 10% of its global management employees over shipping slowdown in the second round of layoffs in less than a year.

Chief Executive Raj Subramaniam reasoned the step saying the firm is hard-pressed to go for a reduction of headcounts mostly its officer and director ranks to consolidate some teams and functions. 

The Memphis, Tenn.-based company has already trimmed its U.S. workforce by 12,000 since the start of the current fiscal year in June 2022.

The company with a strength of 550,000 employees globally witnessed regular attrition, a hiring freeze, and other head-count initiatives. 

“Unfortunately, this was a necessary action to become a more efficient, agile organization. It is my responsibility to look critically at the business and determine where we can be stronger by better aligning the size of our network with customer demand,” Subramaniam said. 

FedEx became the latest large U.S. corporation, from Microsoft Corp. to 3M Co., to announce plans to trim its workforce as businesses brace for slower economic growth this year and a pullback in spending by consumers and corporations.

In September, FedEx said it was freezing hiring, closing 90 FedEx Office locations, parking some cargo aircraft, reducing Sunday ground operations, and closing five corporate offices to offset a sharp drop in package deliveries.

The company, however, didn’t say at the time whether it was cutting staff.

The company said in December that it continued to see weak demand for packages and that it had identified an additional $1 billion in cost savings. In the same month, FedEx Freight temporarily furloughed some workers as demand softened.

The cuts come a day after United Parcel Service Inc. UPS -0.13%decrease; red down-pointing triangle said that it was facing a slowdown in global delivery volumes and forecast that its sales for the year could decline for the first time since 2009.