Lenovo announced a reduction of staff on March 10–approximately 600 positions will be removed, accounting for 5% of the company's total.
Although Lenovo did not make any remarks on which departments were to be reduced, company personnel are indicating that the Marketing and Public Relations will hit the hardest, with 40% of staff being laid off. In terms of Lenovo's structure adjustment plan which was released in February, departments such as IT service, software sub-contract, and network products were expected to be among the first to be adjusted, however these departments have so far remained unchanged, with none of the 600 employees being from these departments. This seems to indicate that the reduction of 600 staff is only the prelude to an even larger-scale reduction.
Lenovo has said that this is a strategic move, which has nothing to do with employee performance and achievements, and that the company will compensate staff through a complete package to include counseling and re-employment support. No mention was made of how much money laid-off workers would be likely to receive. Meanwhile, the company has re-divided and positioned its service and sales districts, saying that it will "utilize all resources" to keep and advance the core services-desktop computers and laptop computers.
In Lenovo's plan, released earlier this year, for the upcoming three years, its previous 7 sales districts across the country have been split into 18, and many departments at the headquarters have been incorporated. According to Lenovo, the whole move is aimed at making the company "more devoted to service development", "client oriented" and having a "high operation efficiency". In other words, Lenovo is seeking to improve its competitiveness in the international market.
