Spirit AeroSystems Inc. notified an additional 135 employees and 13 contractors Friday that their jobs in the company’s IT department will be outsourced.
Spirit (NYSE: SPR) announced in September it would cut 15 contract employees and 37 direct employees as a result of outsourcing part of its IT service.
The company has contracted IBM and Hewlett-Packard to handle some of its IT needs.
The changes go into affect April 2.
Ken Evans, a Spirit spokesperson, says the combined cuts represent about 40 percent of the IT jobs at the company. That department had about 475 workers before the first wave of outsourcing was announced in the fall.
“Spirit must continually review our strategic priorities, which change with business requirements,” Evans says. “As we announced last fall, currently we are not structured to support the global IT requirements, so change is required. Our goal is for each employee to receive a job offer either with a vendor or Spirit.”
Eligible employees can also seek the voluntary retirement plan the company announced last week, Evans says. That program will offer up to 300 employees at Spirit a $30,000 incentive for retirement, to be paid out over six months.
To qualify for the offer, employees must be 55 or older by April 22, salaried or in a managerial position or part of the company’s technical and professional union.
Workers with union representation that don’t choose retirement will be moved laterally within the company, Evans says.
There are no current plans, he says, to outsource more of the company’s IT positions.
Source:http://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/stories/2010/02/08/daily28.html
