A new report claims Verizon will soon cut 15,000 jobs

Last week, we reported on rumors suggesting that employee layoffs at Verizon were imminent. At the time, there wasn’t much information outside of whispers from employees, but now a new report from Reuters adds further credence to the claims. According to “people familiar with the matter”, Verizon will allegedly cut 15,000 jobs as part of the largest layoff in the company’s history.

The layoffs affect about 15% of Verizon’s workforce and are expected to go into place starting next week, which aligns with the earlier rumors suggesting that employees would receive notice of changes coming to the company on November 20. It’s unclear if that date is firm or if it could be any time next week. It’s also unclear where the cuts will come from, specifically, and what other changes might be required to make up for the loss of staff. It’s very likely that less profitable corporate locations will also be shuttered as a result of the cuts, but that’s just speculation for now.

Verizon’s new CEO Dan Schulman has made big promises about turning around the ship to build a “simpler, leaner, and scrappier” organization. These cuts are apparently the first of what we imagine would be the many moves that will be required in order to keep revenue high and weather the storm. That said, Verizon has also promised it will “delight” customers. It’s still unclear how it can cut its workforce so dramatically while still delivering a better customer service experience. Nonetheless, Verizon’s stock went up around 1.5% after news of the massive cut became official.