June 9, 2021
General Mills executives told employees last week it plans layoffs of 700 to 800 positions in the U.S. and Canada, and 500 to 600 additional positions worldwide. At the company’s headquarters, as much as 20% of its 3,000 employees could be cut, the newspaper reported.
General Mills said it expects to incur about $160 million in restructuring costs — primarily severance payments — in the fiscal year 2021, which ended May 30. By the end of fiscal 2023, the company expects to pay out a total of $170 million to $220 million in the restructuring effort — $130 million to $180 million of which will be cash.
In late May, Chairman and CEO Jeff Harmening announced a series of new leadership assignments at an investor conference. These changes created the new positions of chief strategy and growth officer and chief transformation and enterprise services officer, and eliminated the jobs of global chief marketing officer and president of Europe and Australia.
The reorganization is freeing up General Mills’ resources to redeploy them to more growth-facing areas. But there has been nothing obvious in most of the financial records and presentations this year that would point to such big cuts to the company’s workforce. General Mills had a successful year, with sales and profits far exceeding every quarter a year before. In the most recent quarter, net sales were $4.5 billion, an 8% increase over the year prior. Operating profit was up 27% to $827 million.