Verizon is laying off more than 13,000 employees, as the telecommunications giant says it must “reorient” its entire company.
The jobs cuts began on Thursday, per to a staff memo from Verizon CEO Dan Schulman. In the letter, which was seen by The Associated Press, Schulman noted that Verizon’s current cost structure limits the company’s ability to invest — pointing particularly to customer experiences.
“We must reorient our entire company around delivering for and delighting our customers,” Schulman wrote. He added that the company needed to simplify its operations “to address the complexity and friction that slow us down and frustrate our customers.”
Beyond the cuts across Verizon’s workforce, Schulman said that the New York company would also “significantly reduce” its outsourced and other outside labor expenses.
News of coming layoffs at Verizon were reported last week by The Wall Street Journal. The outlet says that the 13,000 job cuts announced Thursday mark the largest-ever round of layoffs at the company.
Verizon isn’t the only company to recently announce sizable workforce reductions. Over recent weeks and months, more and more layoffs have piled up at companies like Amazon, UPS, Nestlé and more.
Schulman on Thursday recognized that “changes in technology and in the economy are impacting the workforce across all industries.” He said that Verizon had established a $20 million “Reskilling and Career Transition Fund” for workers departing Verizon.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.