Xerox to Shed 123 Employees in Webster

Xerox Corp. is planning to eliminate more than 120 positions from its Webster workforce this fall, the company indicated in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice filed with the state Labor Department.

According to Xerox, the cuts — 123 in all — will come by mid-November as it closes its facilities maintenance operations in Webster and outsources the work to Chicago-based commercial real estate services company JLL. The affected jobs are related to providing maintenance and cleaning for Xerox’s Webster R&D and manufacturing campus.

In a statement, the company said closing the facilities maintenance operations “is a business decision based on our global strategy of exiting non-core activities.”

JLL did not respond to a message seeking comment. But Xerox spokesman Robert Wagner said Tuesday that the laid-off employees will be able to apply for positions with JLL “and it is expected that a good number of the employees will be offered job opportunities.”

Xerox employs roughly 6,300 locally, with its Webster campus being its single largest manufacturing site. It’s the area’s fourth largest employer and its largest manufacturer.

Restructuring has long been a way of way of life at the Connecticut-based printing and business process outsourcing company. In the first half of 2014, it spent $69 million worldwide on severance packages as it cut roughly 2,200 positions worldwide. As of the end of June, it employed 142,200 worldwide.

Xerox shares closed Tuesday at $13.45, down 4 cents or 0.3 percent.

(Source: Rochester Democrat & Chronicle )