NORTH WILKESBORO (dpa-AFX) - Home improvement retailer Lowe's Companies Inc. (LOW) has reportedly informed about 2,400 employees that they will be laid off.
The majority of the lay offs are at the store level, while other affected positions are at distribution centers, contact centers and at the company's corporate office in Mooresville.
The layoffs affect less than 1 percent of the company's global workforce. Lowe's has about 180,000 full-time employees and 90,000 part-time workers. It operates 1,840 stores in the U.S., including 39 in Alabama.
Lowe's has said that affected employees will be able to apply for jobs at other locations, while severance packages and career placement services are also being offered to laid off workers.
'The changes will better align store staffing with customer demand, shift resources from back-of-the-store activities to customer-facing ones, and enhance our efficiency and productivity,' Lowe's CEO Robert Niblock said in an email to employees Tuesday obtained by the Charlotte Observer.
'I recognize that change is never easy, but I'm confident that if we focus our organizational talent and investments on our omni-channel strategy, we'll deliver a better customer experience.'
Last week, reports indicated that Lowe's intends to cut thousands of jobs in order to adapt to the changing shopping habits.
Lowe's, which is one of the biggest home improvement retailer in the US, has been struggling to increase its sales and improve customer traffic. For the third quarter, Lowe's reported sales and profit that fell below Wall Street expectations. The retailer also lowered its full-year expectations.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX