Lucent Technologies the struggling telecommunications equipment maker which recently abandoned merger talks with France's Alcatel, said today it will offer early retirement packages to more than 10,000 employees as part of its effort to cut costs.
Lucent said it will offer the buyout package to more than 10,000 US management employees - ranging from entry-level clerical workers to mid-level executives - who are eligible for retirement, or close to it.
The buyout would be on top of the 16,000 jobs Lucent is already shedding. The company, which started the year with about 106,000 employees, is in the midst of cutting 10,000 jobs. It also has said it plans to shift 6,000 jobs to outside contract manufacturers. Lucent also plans to sell its optical fiber unit, which employees about 6,000 workers.
Lucent said it expects the buyout offer to have a high acceptance rate. It declined to comment on whether any forced job cuts would be required if not enough workers accept the offer.
Eligible employees, who must have more than 15 years of service with the company, will receive the offer on June 11th, and must accept by July 10th, Lucent said.
Under the offer, Lucent will add five years of service to employees' tenure with the company, and five years to their age. That would allow eligible employees to retire with a richer pension package, Lucent said.
The specific financial details were not immediately available. Lucent said it would provide details on cost savings, and any one-time charges when it releases its earnings for its June fiscal third quarter.
After ending merger talks with Alcatel at the end of May, Lucent moved to accelerate its internal restructuring plan.
The next phase of the turnaround will include more cost reductions, product cuts, financing issues, and possible plant sales, Lucent Chairman Henry Schacht said Tuesday at the Supercomm 2001 technology conference in Atlanta.