Tyson Foods to cut hundreds of corporate jobs

Tyson Foods is cutting 10% of its corporate headquarters jobs and 15% of senior leadership jobs, according to an internal memo from CEO Donnie King on Wednesday (April 26). As of October 2022, the Springdale-based company had around 6,000 corporate employees.

“For the past several years, we have had a bold and aggressive change agenda in place at Tyson Foods. This strategy has focused on operational excellence by finding ways to be better and faster as we pursue our goal of winning with our team members, customers, and consumers,” King noted in the memo.

He said it has become necessary to downsize the management team to drive efficiency on fewer initiatives with greater intensity. King said headcount reduction is difficult but necessary across the organization to reduce corporate overhead costs and eliminate the duplication of work.

The news comes just a few months after Tyson consolidated its three headquarters in Springdale, initially to bring 1,000 new jobs to the area. Tyson has never said how many workers made the move from Chicago or South Dakota to Springdale, nor has the company confirmed how many people it hired to replace those who did not make the move. Tyson said Wednesday the layoffs are not related to the corporate office consolidation.

Tyson said the layoffs will take place this week. The senior management layoffs will take place in the vice president and senior vice president ranks of the company.

“This is not an easy day, and we recognize it will be difficult for our team members. These decisions are necessary to continue executing our long-term strategy and over time will make Tyson Foods stronger,” King said.

Net income has been harder for Tyson Foods to muster in the post-pandemic era and deliver on the $1 billion savings target executives promised in 2021 to deliver over three years. The company’s adjusted earnings from the first quarter ending Dec. 31 were down 70% from the prior year. Tyson Foods reports earnings on May 8.

Tyson also recently announced the closure of two chicken processing plants eliminating another 1,700 jobs in Van Buren, Ark., and Glen Allen, Va.

Earlier this year, the meat giant also parted ways with Chris Langholz, who ran poultry, and Scott Spradley, the chief technology officer. Those positions were filled internally. The company also promoted John R. Tyson to chief financial officer, with Stewart Glendinning, who was the CFO, transferring to replace Noelle O’Mara, who was head of the prepared foods division.

Despite the headwinds, company officers have recorded higher pay. For example, CEO King earned total compensation of $12.014 million in the recent fiscal year, up 33% from the prior year. King’s base salary of $1.296 million was raised from $980,464. Stock awards increased to $5.125 million, a gain of 39% year over year. Bonus pay rose to $3.432 million and is tied to the company’s overall financial performance. King’s bonus pay in the previous fiscal year was $2.679 million.