Deere Layoffs 2023 - Employees of John Deere respond after a laying off

Deere Layoffs – A round of ‘indefinite layoffs’ has been announced for October by John Deere Harvester Works. Around 225 employees at the Illinois facility in East Moline were informed by John Deere that they would be laid off indefinitely on October 16. On September 20, 2023, employees received information.

John Deere has recently hired hundreds of people in the Quad Cities. However, the company always insists that each Deere factory balances the size of its production workforce with the needs of the individual factory. This is to maximize the efficiency of the workforce at every location.

There are currently about 2,300 people working at John Deere Harvester Works. One thousand nine hundred seventy-five of them have employment in production and maintenance. In this article, we can learn more about the layoffs at John Deere.

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About the company

An American company called Deere & Company operates under the name John Deere. It produces lawn care equipment, heavy machinery, forestry machinery, diesel engines, and drivetrains for heavy machinery. Along with them, it does related operations and offers financial services.

The company’s tagline is “Nothing Runs Like a Deere.” For more than 155 years, it has had numerous emblems that include leaping deer. Its main office is in Moline, Illinois.

It was listed as the 84th largest U.S. firm on the 2022 Fortune 500 list. The D series, E series, specialized tractor, super heavy duty tractor, and JDLink are some of its tractor series.

John Deere laid off 120 employees in 2016

In July 2016, John Deere notified the press that roughly 120 production workers at the company’s Harvester Works in East Moline, Illinois, would be laid off permanently. About 1050 manufacturing workers were working at the factory in 2016.

According to Deere, the business continues to modify the size of its manufacturing team. This is to meet consumer demand for goods produced at each of its plants. Deere previously stated that the company expected lower sales of agricultural equipment for the 2016 fiscal year.

In February 2016, mining and construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar lost a total of 170 jobs in the U.S. This happened due to the weak market for heavy machinery.

John Deere layoffs in 2020

Several middle managers were let go by Deere & Co. Company spokesperson Jennifer Hartmann announced on August 4, 2020, that Deere would cut paid staff due to the need to run a “leaner” business.

Following a buyout offer to salaried employees through the end of July 2020, the announcement was made. On June 17, Moline, Illinois-based Deere, revealed a new corporate operating model. In a press release, corporate leaders stated that they would provide “new value for customers.” Also, they aim to focus their research division on “more promising and profitable prospects.”

These rounds of layoffs would result in the termination of certain managers. This would allow the remaining staff to serve customers more quickly. This is according to Hartmann, Deere’s director of public relations.

She stated, “We need to move more quickly and create solutions that offer our customers more value.”

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the company started laying off employees. According to a quarterly statement, Deere had reduced yearly compensation in the United States by nearly $85 million. This is achieved through buyouts from November 2019 through the end of April 2020.

In late June, Deere also submitted layoff notifications to Iowa Workforce Development. It cited 35 cuts at its Waterloo factory and 82 reductions in Davenport. Later, the company undid the Davenport layoffs.

According to business executives in their May quarterly report of that year, the pandemic caused consumers to order fewer Deere products than expected at the start of the year. The business temporarily shut down its factories in France, Argentina, Brazil, and India. Deere’s reliable suppliers also stopped or reduced production. This led to issues at its operations in the United States, Mexico, India, and southern Europe.

Total net income for the quarter that ended in April 2020 was roughly $666 million. It was a decrease of about 40% from the same time frame in 2019.

John Deere is using recent I.T. layoffs to its advantage!

The number of layoffs at tech companies is dramatically increasing. This is having an impact on employees. A website that tracks layoffs in the tech sector is Layoffs.fyi. It reports that since the start of 2022, the tech sector has laid off close to 300,000 individuals.

John Deere, on the other hand, has begun to target some of these workers who might be searching for a new job after their most recent layoff.

Near its headquarters in Moline, Illinois, John Deere just opened a brand-new office in downtown Chicago. The workplace is intentionally created to attract new employees. They may be attracted to a typical, technological office setting. Within the next two years, John Deere plans to hire 300 more people. They have already hired 98 people so far from firms like Uber and Google.

John Deere may not come to mind when considering creative technology firms. But the company has made significant progress in this area. John Deere recently unveiled a new line of self-driving tractors. It appears to be the direction that farm equipment, in general, is moving in.

The business also stated that attracting a diverse pool of potential employees was one of its main goals in building the new facility in downtown Chicago. John Deere’s head of talent acquisition is Crystal T. Jones. According to him, diversity among employees promotes diversity of thought.

John Deere Harvester Works announce indefinite layoffs

John Deere Harvester Works has announced indefinite layoffs, and will begin in October. On September 20, 2023, the news was received by the workforce. They gave details regarding the events that led to the layoff and how they found out about it.

In a press release, John Deere stated that it would be laying off about 225 production workers at its John Deere Harvester Works in East Moline. This layoff will be on an indefinite basis starting on October 16.

According to the press statement, factory management informed workers of the layoffs during meetings.

John Deere has recently hired hundreds of people in the Quad Cities. The business keeps ensuring that each Deere factory balances the size of its production workforce with the needs of the specific factory. This is to best utilize the employees at each facility, according to a press release.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois was asked by the press what he thought of Deere’s layoffs. Sen. Durbin stated, “Deere is a great company and an excellent employer in the region.” “I regret that there has been a workforce setback. But I believe that they can recover quickly.”

Employees of John Deere respond after a layoffs

After learning they would be fired permanently, a TV6 crew talked with some laid-off employees. They wished to remain anonymous. A person claimed that after leaving a job of thirty years to begin working at the Harvester Works facility, he was fired after only a year.

Another employee who was let go spoke highly of John Deere. He also spoke about how their father had worked there for twenty years. According to the employee, sentiments changed, and employees constantly worry about losing their jobs.

He continued by saying that his family and himself were affected by the loss of his career. But he was still optimistic about the future. Also, he is grateful that he is still in good health. He claims he will go to a job fair this weekend to look for work in another factory.

The employees were able to shed light on the facts surrounding the layoff and how they found out about it. Workers claim that during a typical town hall meeting in June, management told them that orders for the upcoming production cycle were strong. Also, layoffs were not planned until the end of 2024.

Workers got a letter from the factory manager on Friday. In that, they informed them that the facility had been “working through adjustments to our MY24 production schedule.” Also, a required meeting was set for Wednesday.

Workers claim that during the Wednesday mandatory meeting, management disclosed that they had only learned of the need for layoffs seven days earlier. They cited farmers’ poor economic conditions as the main reason for layoffs.

Conclusion

On September 20, 2023, John Deere Harvester Works announced the indefinite layoff of over 10 percent of its staff.

There is no production taking place at the Harvester Works factory right now because it is “shut down.” Workers were informed on Wednesday that production would restart on October 16. But they would not be expected to report to work. Instead, they would still be eligible for benefits up to that time. Workers claim that although some employees are essentially sacked, others have call-back agreements with varying terms up to two years.

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