European companies cut jobs as economy sputters

Decades-high inflation and the impact of war in Ukraine have forced companies across Europe into lay-offs or hiring freezes.

Here are some of the companies that have announced cuts since January:

Autos

Volvo: The 180-HP, 1.6-liter direct injection turbo petrol engine

• Volvo: the Swedish group said in March it would restructure its European bus-making operation, leading to a reduction of 1,600 jobs.
• Volvo Cars: the automaker on May 4 announced 1,300 additional layoffs in Sweden, 6 percent of the company’s workforce in its homecountry.
• Stellantis: the carmaker agreed with unions in February to cut up to 2,000 workers from its Italian operations through voluntary redundancies.

Food, retail and consumer goods

A customer shops for chilled fruit juice at a Sainsbury’s supermarket in Walthamstow, east London (Photo by Tolga Akmen / AFP)

• Deliveroo: the British meal delivery company said on Feb. 9 it would cut around 9 percent of its workforce, or 350 roles.
• Fielmann:  the German glasses retailer said on March 3 it would slash hundreds of jobs by 2025. *
• Sainsbury’s: the British supermarket group plans to consolidate five existing Sainsbury’s and Argos general merchandise depots into three, closing two by 2026, in a move that will impact 1,400 workers, it said on Feb. 28.
• Zalando: the German online fashion retailer said on Feb. 21 it would cut hundreds of jobs across the company, citing over-expansion in some areas and a more difficult economic environment.

Industrials and engineering

• Kone: the Finnish elevator maker said on Jan. 26 it would reduce headcount by 1,000, including 150 in Finland.
• British Steel: the Chinese-owned company said on Feb. 22 it could cut up to 260 jobs after announcing the planned closure of its coke ovens in northern England.

Tech

Ericsson logo is seen at its headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. REUTERS/Olof Swahnberg

• Ericsson: the telecom equipment maker will lay off 8,500 employees globally as part of its plan to cut costs, a memo seen by Reuters said.
• Logitech: the maker of keyboards, webcams and other computer accessories is laying off about 300 people in a global reorganization, Bloomberg News reported on March 22.
• Nokia: the Finnish telecom equipment maker said on May 3 it plans to cut up to 208 jobs in Finland.
• Philips: the Dutch medical equipment maker on Jan. 30 said it would cut 6,000 jobs to counter falling sales and after a massive recall of its respiratory machines.
• SAP: the German software company said on Jan. 26 it planned to shed 3,000 jobs, 2.5% of its global workforce, to cut costs and focus on its cloud business.
• Telecom Italia:  the group is seeking to cut as many as 2,000 jobs in Italy through a voluntary early retirement scheme, sources told Reuters in March.
• Vodafone:  the British telecoms giant said on May 16 it would cut 11,000 jobs over three years as it forecast a 1.5 billion euro drop in 2023 free cash flow.

Others

• BASF: the German chemicals maker said on Feb. 24 it would cut 2,600 jobs to improve competitiveness as it warned of a further decline in earnings due to rising costs.
• Deutsche Bank: Germany’s largest bank said on April 27 it would cut 800 jobs in an effort to reduce costs by an additional 500 million euros over the next few years.
• Evonik: the German specialty chemicals producer said on April 3 it would cut 200 jobs as part of restructuring of its pet food unit.
• Grifols: the Spanish pharmaceutical firm said on Feb. 15 it would lay off around 2,300 employees, or 8.5 percent of its global workforce, amid a strategy overhaul aimed at reaching annual savings of around 400 million euros.
• Taylor Wimpey: the British housebuilder said on Jan. 13 it was considering job cuts to keep a lid on costs, but did not specify the number of potential job cuts.

Source: Regulatory filings, Reuters stories and company websites

$1 = 10.4142 Swedish crowns; $1 = 0.9222 euros