Lisa Bernard Kuhn reports:
Procter & Gamble paid out $495 million in severance to departing employees in its last fiscal year under a plan to slash costs, according to a government filing.
On average, P&G said it spent $150,000 for each of the 3,300 employees who accepted the company’s early retirement offer. Of those jobs, 2,250 were non-manufacturing positions in North America and Western Europe.
Roughly 1,700 of the departures occurred by the end of the company’s fiscal year on June 30. Another 1,600 employees will leave the company by the end of this calendar year.
P&G declined to comment on how many jobs were affected locally. The company has roughly 12,000 employees in Greater Cincinnati, including about 2,400 at its Mason Business Center. The retirement packages are mostly voluntary, and the payouts are calculated based on salary levels and past years of service, according to the company.
In February, P&G announced its $10 billion restructuring plan, citing a goal to cut up to 5,700 jobs by the end of its 2013 fiscal year. The company has said it’s ahead of schedule, with plans to complete those cuts by the end of this calendar year.
Overall, the company ended its 2012 fiscal year with 126,000 employees worldwide – 3,000 fewer than it had in 2011. The company said total job cuts for the year was 5,000 employees. That includes jobs lost with the sale of its snacks unit, which includes Pringles.
But the overall reduction was offset by new hires in manufacturing and smaller acquisitions, including Vermont-based dietary supplement business New Chapter. That acquisition occurred in May.
Over the last year, the maker of Tide, Pampers, Crest and other well-known brands has been working to cut costs as it struggles to grow sales in developed markets including North America and Europe.
P&G’s Mason Business Center, which employs about 2,400, is home to its pet care, pharmaceuticals and personal- and oral-care businesses.
