Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale will lay off 262 workers from their South Dakota office by July 31, the company said.
Tyson Foods had announced its OneTyson initiative in October 2022 to relocate 1,000 employees from their offices in Chicago and South Dakota to Springdale. In a May 26 letter to the South Dakota Department of Labor & Regulation, the company said it would lay off 262 employees who had chosen not to relocate.
The letter was required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) giving 60-days notice of an office closing.
The company said severance pay would be based on tenure and position. Of the 262 employees affected, positions include the group president of fresh meats, the senior vice president of pork, nine vice presidents, seven directors and at least 11 managers.
“Tyson Foods is on a journey to build a more unified and efficient company,” the company said in the notice, which was signed by Jamison Smith, the company’s vice president of human resources. “The changes we are making will support greater opportunity for collaboration and timely decision making. They will also allow for a more agile workforce with greater opportunities for development and advancement.”
Tyson Foods CEO Donnie King announced in April that the company would lay off 15% of its leadership positions and 10% of its corporate roles.
Tyson Foods said it understood the “personal and difficult decision” made by its employees who chose not to relocate. It said the employees in positions that will be eliminated will receive individual WARN notices.
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