Symantec Layoffs Begin In Earnest

Internet security firm Symantec (News - Alert) might be well respected in the market, but that hasn’t protected the company from some rather severe struggles. The company announced late last week that layoffs have started and those layoffs will be rolled out over the next two months. A separate report is also revealing that as many as 1,700 Symantec employees will be looking for new jobs by the end of the summer. The company currently employs about 21,500 people, meaning that the layoffs are going to be affecting about eight percent of its staff.

The company, which is still recognized as one of the go-to firms in the world when it comes to IT security has been talking about restructuring its workforce for months now. Higher level changes have been going on for well over a year. Last spring, the company fired longtime CEO Enrique Salem and replaced him with former Intuit (News - Alert) chief Steve Bennett.

In turn, Bennett announced that he had a rather ambitious plan that was geared towards making the company profitable again. In a January statement, Bennett warned that layoffs might have to play a part in the company’s turnaround. Bennett also announced that he would be reworking the sales team, trimming software products and increasing R&D.

Earlier in the year, the industry analysts had thought that the company would cut about 1,000 employees loose. Bennett said that the increase in planned layoffs is due in part to a number of temporary employees who will be let go along with the long term and permanent employees.

When reached for comment about the recent announcement of more than expected layoffs, the company reiterated that this has been part of the plan since first announced on January 23. However, it would not say exactly how many of its staff were being let go and said that anyone who was talking numbers was purely speculating.