More job cuts are likely at logistics giant C.H. Robinson.
CFO Mike Zechmeister said during the company’s Q4 earnings call Wednesday that “we expect our headcount to decline throughout 2023 as productivity improves,” though did not specify when it would happen or how many positions would be affected.
Cuts would be in addition to the 650 layoffs the company announced in November. Zechmeister said more than 600 of those workers were no longer with the company as of early January.
Interim CEO Scott Anderson said the company is focused on headcount and tightly managing the business the first half of the year, expressing caution about global economic conditions.
“As I've said to the senior leadership team, making no assumptions that the wind will be at our back throughout 2023,” Anderson said.
Zechmeister said it is on track to realize $150 million in savings by Q4 2023 through the November job cuts and investments in technology to automate some of its processes.
The headcount reduction should translate to the company’s 2023 personnel expenses ranging between $1.55 billion and $1.65 billion, Zechmeister said, down about 7% from $1.72 billion in 2022.
C.H. Robinson has taken other big steps lately as it looks to future growth. The logistics giant announced Anderson would take over the company after board members unanimously voted to fire CEO Bob Biesterfeld.
“It really was around an opportunity for this to be an inflection point of performance at the company, and new leadership being a component of that in terms of making that happen,” he said.