John Deere called employees to attend a meeting at 7:30 a.m. this morning regarding the start of a new round of layoffs, this time affecting salaried employees around the world.
While today’s layoff announcement was expected, Deere & Co. has yet to officially release details about the layoffs that they say come as a result of rising operational and manufacturing costs, reduced consumer demands, and a 20 percent decline in sales.
Numerous Deere employees have taken to Reddit to commiserate as they have received layoff notifications.
One user, u/master_pain84, commented, noting that as an L5 manager, they have been directed to repeat messaging from Q&A documents: “Managers have been getting Q&A documents that basically tell you to repeat the message from upper management and be vague with answers. I am doing my best to keep my team informed of everything I know that I can share. But I do not have an answer for them when they ask about if they will have a job.”
Another person, u/Open_Golf_5999, posted saying that their whole team is gone, “Also, just to highlight the ‘humanity’ of Deere — there are instances where they fired both husband and wife.”
Meanwhile, u/Important_Music2555 noted that the salary of John Deere’s CEO has increased in compensation from $14.8 million in 2020 to $26.3 million in 2023.
“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,” the company said in a prepared statement Wednesday.
Almost 10 days ago, Deere announced in a letter to employees that the layoffs would begin on Wednesday as the company implemented “global salary workforce reductions.”
In the letter, Deere requested that employees work from home Wednesday through Friday to “enable us to synchronize virtual communications and allow the colleagues who are leaving Deere to hear and digest the news in private.”
Deere has reportedly promised 12 months of severance based on years of service, pro-rated short-term incentives, long-term incentive cash compensation of benefits, payments for unused paid time off, and access to healthcare and 12 months of of 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,” the company said in a prepared statement Wednesday.
Layoffs seem to be regular announcements for Deere lately
John Deere’s layoffs have been a major news story for months. On July 10, the company announced it would cut 345 jobs at its Waterloo, Iowa, facility, effective September 20.
In addition, seven employees at John Deere Coffeyville Works in Kansas were laid off on August 9.
Earlier, on June 28, more than 600 workers at East Moline, Davenport, and Dubuque plants were notified their jobs would end on August 30. This included 280 employees in East Moline, 299 production workers at John Deere Davenport Works, and 111 employees at John Deere Dubuque Works.
On June 5, Deere announced over 120 job cuts at John Deere’s Seeding and Cylinder Operations in Moline. The previous day, the company revealed it would eliminate 58 positions at John Deere Intelligent Solutions Group in Urbandale, 49 jobs at John Deere Waterloo Works, and 16 at John Deere Des Moines Works.
In May, 34 workers were laid off at Cylinder Works in Moline, and 190 in Waterloo. This came after 300 employees at the Waterloo factory were laid off by the end of April.
Last fall, 225 workers were laid off at Harvester Works in East Moline. Overall, more than 1,900 John Deere employees were laid off from September 2023 to July 2024.
Deere pushes back on claims to move U.S. jobs abroad
After rumors that Deere would be reducing U.S. jobs to move production to Mexico, the company pushed back on rumors in a statement posted to its website on Tuesday.
“Despite the current reduction in customer demand, John Deere is steadfast in its commitment to U.S.-based manufacturing. The company currently employs over 30,000 people in more than 60 U.S.-based facilities across more than a dozen states,” the company wrote.
John Deere, founded nearly 200 years ago in Grand Detour, Illinois, by an entrepreneur committed to innovation, continues to uphold this legacy today.
Since 2019, John Deere has invested over $2 billion in American factories, including the new See & Spray line at Des Moines Works in Iowa, the X9 combine assembly line at Harvester Works in Illinois, a new excavator factory in North Carolina, and new tractor line assemblies in Waterloo.
John Deere explains that to enable its U.S. factories to focus on high-value activities, it is sometimes necessary to move less complex operations, such as cab assembly, to other locations.
The company’s economic impact in its U.S. hometown communities and beyond is valued at $27 billion. John Deere deeply values its highly skilled U.S. workforce, which is integral to producing world-class equipment.
In the U.S., John Deere employs approximately 30,000 people across more than 60 facilities in 16 states. Additionally, John Deere dealers employ over 50,000 people nationwide, and in 2023, the company spent over $16 billion with U.S.-based suppliers.
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