Dive Brief:
- Waste Management Inc. made an internal announcement on August 22 that it would be starting a voluntary employee reduction plan.
- Corporate staff at the company's headquarters in Houston, TX and in other cities can opt to accept a severance package or play the waiting game to see if they are let go when the "voluntary" phase of the plan ends.
- Waste Management is refusing to disclose the number of jobs that will be cut.
Dive Insight:
As of last summer, Waste Management had 43,500 employees. Toni Beck, the vice president of corporate communications at Waste Management said the upcoming cuts are meant to contain costs -- and it's not the first such move that the company has made in recent months.
In June, the company announced the impending closure of a call center in Oak Harbor, WA with about 120 employees. Some of these workers will be let go while others will be transferred to a different branch. The company is also closing some of its smaller call centers in an effort to consolidate resources.
Waste Management is known for shedding what it sees as corporate baggage. In January 2014, executives announced the firm was reducing its financial risk by cutting back its investments in startups. And last November, Waste Management CEO David Steiner said that a drop in commodity pricing for recyclables was prompting the firm to re-think its approach in that market. The company had lost money in recycling through the previous 18 months, said Steiner. “If you want us to invest, we need a sustainable business model,” he added.
Steiner anticipates emerging waste sectors like coal ash disposal and food waste recycling to be a catalyst for job creation in the near future. Coal ash employment is dependent on regulations that may or may not be approved, but Steiner has been bullish on their implementation.