LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Louisville-based GE Appliances will cut about 5% of its salaried workforce amid “historic(ly)” high manufacturing and operating costs, according to the company.
A subsidiary of China’s Haier, GE Appliances makes household appliances such as dishwashers, refrigerators and freezers at Louisville’s Appliance Park as well as factories in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina.
The company said “double-digit material inflation and a highly disrupted supply chain” led to the cuts.
The reductions do not affect assembly line workers, who are the bulk of GE Appliances’ employees. The company’s white-collar positions include engineers, service managers, customer service representatives, plant managers and salespeople.
GE Appliances said in a statement that affected employees have been notified and will be given a month’s notice as well as up to six months of severance, based on years of service, and health insurance for six months.
“GE Appliances has invested in new technology and products to keep the company competitive for the long term. However, with double-digit material inflation and a highly disrupted supply chain, manufacturing and operating costs have reached historic levels,” the company said. “In response to slower demand in the appliance industry, the company is accelerating its business transformation and streamlining the organization.”
It's unclear exactly how many people are affected.
Louisville is the company’s biggest employment hub, but GE Appliances has salaried workers at its other U.S. plants as well as many other locations across the country.
GE Appliances spokeswoman Julie Wood declined to say how many salaried workers the company employs.
In Kentucky, GE Appliances employs about 9,000 in total, a third of which — or 3,000 — are salaried, Wood said. She declined to say if those figures are before or after the reductions.
As of 2021, GE Appliances employed about 2,100 salaried workers in Louisville, WDRB News reported.
“We have grown substantially even this year alone,” Wood said by text message.
Even as it trims its white-collar workforce, GE Appliances continues to hire production workers for its factories, including Louisville’s Appliance Park.
Note: This story has been updated to clarify the severance available to laid off employees.
