Nearly 200 UPS employees have accepted early retirement terms which the company says will cost it$80 million during Q1 of this year.
UPS had offered severance agreements to 650 workers aged 50 or older as part of a plan to axealmost 2,000 jobs from corporate support departments and the supply chain division. Less than athird, 194, have accepted the offer, UPS said yesterday.
“As a result of the acceptances, UPS will record a one-time charge to expense ofapproximately $80 million during the first quarter of 2007. The company expects to generate apositive return on the program after two years,” the Atlanta-based company said in a statement.
The buyout offer is part of an ongoing effort to streamline support functions in areas suchas network planning, procurement, human resources, finance and sales.
UPS broadened its core strategy several years ago, aiming to cover the entire supply chainafter nearly 100 years as a pure parcel service.
It is said to be finding costly the integration of a series of acquisitions made over thepast few years, such as Menlo Forwarding, Fritz and Overnite, and announced 1,200 job cuts in thesupply chain division in October.
