began laying off some of its work force at its Triangle campus Wednesday, following through on an announcement the financial services made last week.
The privately held company, which is based in Massachusetts, employs some 2,500 people in RTP.
“The work force reductions we announced will modestly impact our employment in North Carolina,” Fidelity spokesperson Anne Crowley told WRAL.com on Wednesday, “but our firm remains committed to the state and is on track to achieve its job growth commitments.”
Fidelity announced plans in 2006 to expand its work force from 1,000 to some 3,000 by 2010. As part of that project, Fidelity is building a campus spread across more than 250 acres.
Citing the continuing financial crisis on Wall Street and an economic slowdown, Fidelity said on Nov. 6 that it would cut 2.9 percent of its 44,000 employees.
“The layoffs we announced last week are being communicated to impacted employees today,” Crowley said.
“As we said last week, most of our divisions have decided to do some layoffs, and there will be some impact in most of our regions,” she added.
This is the first stage of planned work force reductions. Fidelity plans another round of layoffs in the first quarter of 2009.
“These are extraordinary times, and while Fidelity remains strong and growing, prudent management warrants that we carefully examine all of our costs to make certain we come out of this economic downturn in a position to capitalize on opportunities for our customers,” Fidelity said in last week’s announcement.
The company manages assets of some $1.4 trillion and works with 24 million customers and business clients.
