MOLINE, Ill. — News 8 has received a letter sent to salaried John Deere employees on May 31, 2024, suggesting layoffs are expected by the end of quarter three of 2024. The company has since confirmed in a statement that "salaried layoffs in the U.S. are expected to occur by the end of July."
In the letter, the company states that it's attempted to address issues of rising operational costs and declining market demand with various measures, including a hiring freeze, but additional actions need to be taken to remain competitive.
News 8 received the following response from John Deere regarding the letter:
"We can confirm Deere leadership recently communicated that rising operational costs and declining market demand requires enterprise-wide changes in how work gets done to achieve our goals and best position the company for the future.
This includes:
- Aligning our workforce to our strategic priorities while simplifying the organization and reducing overlap and redundancy in roles and responsibilities
- Ensuring our factories are optimized for future products and to operate more efficiently across our global footprint
- Eliminating low- and non-value-added tasks, activities, and expenses
Salaried layoffs in the U.S. are expected to occur by the end of July. Meanwhile John Deere factories are consistently balancing the size of the production workforce with the needs of the individual factory to optimize the workforce at each facility.
Regarding potential upcoming announcements, we are not able to respond to any speculation. When we do have layoffs, we only confirm workforce adjustments once all impacted employees are notified."
In May, Deere reported second-quarter fiscal results that beat Wall Street's expectations, but the company lowered its full-year profit forecast as farmers purchase fewer tractors and other equipment as they deal with declining crop prices.
News 8 also obtained a notice dated Thursday, June 27, issued to John Deere Harvester Works employees by Factory Manager Jim Leach, requesting employees to attend a mandatory meeting Friday morning. The letter states, "We are currently working through adjustments to our MY25 production schedule and need to share important information related to these adjustments."
On June 5, Deere confirmed that more than 120 employees at its Seeding and Cylinder operations in Moline would be placed on indefinite leave effective June 28.
In May, around 200 John Deere Waterloo Works production employees were informed that they were being laid off after 308 workers were laid off in late April at the same location. John Deere also announced layoffs for 150 employees at its Ankeny plant in March.
Over 200 production employees were laid off at Harvester Works in East Moline in October 2023.
Watch more news, weather and sports on News 8's YouTube channel