SEATTLE – Boeing Co. said it will outsource a significant amount of information technology work to Dell starting in April, including support for cloud services, databases and information technology. The move is expected to eliminate 600 jobs.
Susan Doniz, Boeing’s vice president of information technology and data analysis, told employees on Thursday that the jobs eliminated represent about 10 percent of the company’s IT staff, The Seattle Times reported.
Boeing declined to provide details of jobs affected by the state. The Times suggested in its report that the biggest successes of layoffs could occur at the company’s main offices in the Puget Sound, St. Louis and North Charleston region.
The Post and Courier contacted South Carolina’s Boeing for comment.
Doniz said affected employees, most of whom are not union members, should find a different job at the company, apply to work for Dell or they will be fired.
The move should increase the company’s efficiency, streamline operations and “move forward with our digital transformation,” she said.
“This is a change that we would have made even without a global pandemic,” said Doniz. She added that the pandemic “certainly accelerated our pace”.
Company employees also announced plans to reduce factory and office space by more than 5 million square feet in the coming years, and move to a more remote operation.
Boeing cut 20,000 jobs across the company last year and said it needs to cut 11,000 more this year, making it more difficult for affected IT employees who lost their jobs to find new jobs within the company.
The company eliminated 1,163 positions from its South Carolina operations in 2020, reducing its local payroll to 5,706 workers, according to an updated list of employees released this week.
Boeing builds the 787 Dreamliner and supports other commercial aircraft programs from various locations in North Charleston.
The Post and Courier contributed to this report.