Medtronic ($MDT) has said that operational changes would be on the way after sealing its $43 billion tax inversion deal with Covidien last year, and some of those are still trickling in. The company is planning to shut down an office building at Covidien's Massachusetts headquarters as part of its restructuring following the merger.
Medtronic decided to close Covidien's Building 4 at its Mansfield, MA-based HQ. The building used to be Covidien's main building and home to the company's executive offices.
The decision to shutter Building 4 does not have to do with layoffs at the Mansfield facility, Medtronic spokesman Fernando Vivanco told The Sun Chronicle. Instead, the move is part of the company's plan to roll out a "flexible workspace concept" that gives employees the option to work from home or remotely, Vivanco said. Covidien employed about 1,700 workers at its HQ and adjacent buildings prior to the Medtronic deal.
Dublin-based Medtronic is staying quiet about more potential layoffs, saying that it does not disclose employment levels at individual locations, Vivanco said. But the company has said that there would be fewer back-office support jobs as it integrates with Covidien, he added.
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| Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak |
Job-cutting has featured on Medtronic and Covidien's to-do list since closing their megadeal last year. Medtronic has plans to save $300 million to $350 million from its Covidien deal, and part of that strategy involves eliminating redundancies. Last September, Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak said that the company would meet its cost-savings goal by "executing on our indirect sourcing plans" to "achieve meaningful savings."
In November, Medtronic said that it would ax 150 jobs at its Dublin-based Cherrywood call center, which offers support services to European clients. The news sent workers at the facility into "a state of shock," Ian McArdle, head of Irish workers group Communications Workers Union, said at the time.
Covidien is no stranger to job cuts, either. In 2014, the company laid off 160 workers at its Mansfield facility and in Europe before merging with Medtronic, according to The Sun Chronicle story.
- read the Sun Chronicle story
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