After major layoffs at Reebok, Adidas is now planning to hire nearly 3,000 people this year. If there was such a pressing need for layoffs, then why are we hiring so soon after? Was there really no way to offer those jobs to people who were so freshly cut? I'm sure some of them would have been willing to relocate if offered. This seems wrong on so many levels.
3 replies (most recent on top)
They will only hire the "cheap" employees: young fresh graduates with little to none experience, since they will mostly accept the starters' salaries.
The “need” for layoffs in Reebok is obviously not about adidas…but rather ABG/SPARC. They will run the brand with a very different business model. There would also be a lot of redundancies created at the new company when they absorb Reebok people. It doesn’t make it better, but I think most of the people in Reebok expected some kind of layoffs.
My hunch, is that part of the sale negotiation is that those layoffs would be decided, announced, and processed, ahead of the sale closing. Doing it after creates more financial liabilities for ABG, and they probably pushed hard to avoid that, considering the huge cash outlay they need to front to adidas.
Since layoffs are generally about reducing costs... the answer is likely no.