Whole Foods Market To Eliminate About 1,500 Jobs

(RTTNews) - Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) said that it will eliminate about 1,500 jobs or 1.6 percent of its workforce over the next eight weeks.

It anticipates many of the reductions to be managed through natural attrition and expects a significant percentage of affected Team Members will find other jobs from the nearly 2,000 open positions across the company or via new jobs created from the more than 100 new stores in development.

"We have offered them several options including transition pay, a generous severance, or the opportunity to apply for other jobs. In addition, we will pay these Team Members in full over the next eight weeks as they decide which option to choose." "We believe this is an important step to evolve Whole Foods Market in a rapidly changing marketplace," said Walter Robb, co-CEO of Whole Foods Market.

The company noted that it added over 9,000 new jobs in the past year and created nearly 35,000 over the past five years.