Simmons Severances

It has begun.

Simmons First National Bank, which recently bought Metropolitan National Bank for $56 million, has started culling the staff at MNB locations across Northwest Arkansas.

From what Whispers heard, the news hit the first day back from Thanksgiving break, when some employees were told they were staying and some were told they needed to pack their bags.

The fortunate ones were told to meet at a ballroom at the Embassy Suites for a special meeting, while the unfortunate were told to meet at the Simmons location on New Hope Road. While some employees will be gone by Dec. 31, others will stay until March 21. Part-timers are getting a severance equivalent to one week’s pay per year of service, while full-timers are getting two weeks’ pay per year.

Our source said the end game is this: Consolidate the 21 combined Simmons and MNB locations into 10. That means a lot of heads had to roll. Our source said plenty of people were devastated.

None of this is unexpected, of course. CEO-elect George Makris said earlier this year that every branch associate would be interviewed for their job in the central and northwest locations. He also said that some employees would lose their jobs in the consolidation.

We all knew it was coming. Still, losing a job between Thanksgiving and Christmas is tough to swallow.