Walgreens to lay off 267 corporate employees

Walgreens Boots Alliance is laying off 267 employees, its second round of corporate staff reductions in recent months, Crain’s has learned.

The layoffs represent about 5% of Deerfield-based Walgreens’ corporate workforce, according to an internal memo obtained by Crain’s and sent to employees Wednesday from new CEO Tim Wentworth. None of the affected roles are based at Walgreens’ stores, microfulfillment centers or call centers, the memo says.

Related: Walgreens, Alignment Health to partner on Medicare Advantage deal

Walgreens spokesman Fraser Engerman confirmed the layoffs, saying in a statement to Crain’s the cuts will affect roles across a range of corporate departments. But Engerman did not respond to questions about when affected employees will be notified.

The layoffs come as Wentworth aims to turn around the business, which has seen lagging earnings and a dropping stock price as the company struggles to fend off pressures on its traditional pharmacy and retail businesses, as well as stand up an entirely new health care delivery business.

“We’ve had to make some difficult decisions about budgets and investments, including stopping projects, dramatically reducing our spend, and going line by line in our budgets to unlock all potential savings,” wrote Wentworth, who joined the company last month. “However, despite those efforts and many of yours, our costs are not aligned with the performance of the business.

“Therefore, we have made the decision to adjust our corporate workforce to the performance and focus our resources on our most critical priorities,” Wentworth continued.

Severance and outplacement services will be made available to all laid off employees, according to the memo.

Not a Modern Healthcare subscriber? Sign up today.

This week’s layoffs come just months after Walgreens eliminated 504 corporate employees in May. The company later cut 400 roles at an e-commerce distribution center in downstate Edwardsville.

The most recent round of layoffs also comes about a week after Walgreens also said it won't offer bonus payouts to corporate team members and will reduce bonus payouts for pharmacy and store managers.

The personnel-related cuts come amid a $1 billion cost reduction plan Walgreens announced in October that’s aimed at finding efficiencies and growing revenue after several quarters of poor performance that’s dragged down the company’s stock price.

Walgreens stock is down 43% since the beginning of the year, trading at about $21.

This story first appeared in Crain's Chicago Business.