Europe to bear 40% of Goodyear’s global job cuts

The news that Goodyear lost $104 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 won’t be welcome in the company’s Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. The official figures also confirmed projections a fortnight earlier that EMEA’s own fourth-quarter 2022 loss of $80 million would make up the lion’s share of the red numbers. Back then, Goodyear’s Ohio-based global executives announced plans to cut 5 per cent of the firm’s global salaried workforce and official statements featured implicit references to the underperformance of the EMEA region, raising questions about how many jobs would be cut in Europe.

Initially, Goodyear representatives couldn’t offer many details of how the 5 per cent global salaried workforce reduction related to Goodyear’s 72,000-strong workforce. However, Goodyear representatives subsequently clarified: “Our total global workforce includes approximately 10,000 salaried positions, five per cent of which is 500”.

Our next question was: how evenly will those job cuts be spread? The answer: “Outside the US, we are following processes that take into account relevant stakeholder consultations, as required.”

Deep in the detail of Goodyear’s fourth-quarter 2022 37-page financial results statement, executives have now confirmed that “European staffing levels will be reduced by about 200 positions, subject to required consultations”.

200 positions equates to exactly 40 per cent of the total 500 job losses Goodyear is making across its global salaried workforce. But that wording could mean more.

Goodyear’s 2021 corporate responsibility report says there are 17,030 salaried employees worldwide. It doesn’t break that figure down by region, but it does say that from the total employee headcount of 59,984, EMEA employees account for 21,812 or 36.4 per cent. On first glance it already appears that EMEA carrying 40 per cent of total job cuts means the region is carrying roughly 10 per cent more than it would if job cuts were spread evenly. Of course, that estimate is made based on the figures available, which relies on the proportion of workers in each region. 40 per cent could well reflect EMEA’s share of global salaried workforce.

However, Goodyear’s fourth-quarter 2022 financial results statement didn’t say EMEA, it said “European staffing levels”, which again raises questions about how many jobs will be cut in Europe and what proportion of the total global salaried workforce that equates to.