Comcast said that it will layoff as many as 300 employees in its Eastern Division as part of an overall restructuring of the company.
The Eastern Division, which currently has about 20,000 employees, serves New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., is being consolidated from six divisions to four. The Philadelphia Business Journal first reported this story.
The former Potomac Region and the Maryland, Delaware and Richmond Region were combined to form the Beltway Region, while the former Philadelphia metro Region and the New Jersey Region are now the Freedom Region (perhaps in a nod to the company’s purchase last year of Patriot Communications). The Central Pennsylvania Region and the Three Rivers Region (including Western Pennsylvania and parts of Ohio and West Virginia) will keep their names and continue as stand-alone regions, said Comcast Eastern Region spokeswoman Beth Bacha.
In July, Comcast eliminated one of five operating divisions altogether and shifted William Connors, formerly of the eliminated Midwest Division, to Philadelphia to run the Eastern Division. Former Eastern Division chief Michael Doyle left the company at that time.
Bacha said that Comcast began notifying employees of the changes on Monday. She said the restructuring could take several weeks to complete.
Bacha stressed that although the company said that up to 1.5% of its 20,000-person workforce could be affected, it could be significantly less.
She said that most of the jobs affected are at the division and regional management levels and Comcast will try to find other jobs within the region and division for the people whose positions are being changed.
