United Parcel Service (UPS), the American supply-chain company, announced earlier this week, that it will be slashing 12,000 jobs in a cost-saving effort totaling $1 billion. The majority of the layoffs will target managerial and contractor positions, further stoking the prevailing uncertainty within the corporate sphere regarding ongoing job cuts.
As the company issued a disappointing sales outlook for the year, it announced implementing job cuts. The company expects global revenue to fall between $92 billion and $94.5 billion, up from $91 billion in 2023. However, analysts surveyed by Refinitiv had anticipated revenue of at least $95.6 billion, indicating a disparity from expectations, as per a report by CNN.
Last year, UPS witnessed a decline in business as customers, wary of a potential Teamsters strike, transferred their shipments to competing carriers like FedEx. While UPS anticipates reclaiming the majority of that lost business, it has only regained approximately 60 per cent of it so far.
Since the inception of this year, despite initial optimism in the global corporate sector around the outlook for the year, numerous layoffs have been announced, tempering this positivity. Yesterday, fintech firm PayPal disclosed its decision to reduce approximately 9 per cent of its workforce.
CEO Alex Chriss attributed the layoffs to the necessity of advancing in new technology. This development adds to the growing roster of technology companies that have downsized their staff, including companies such as Amazon, Google and eBay, within the first month of the new year.
