BATON ROUGE, La. -- The Home Depot will lay off 225 workers in its customer support and distribution operations in Baton Rouge over the next 18 months.
Company spokesman Stephen Holmes told The Advocate (http://bit.ly/GZyFSK) that the layoffs will hit 90 workers at Home Depot's distribution facility for online purchases. Another 135 will face layoffs in sales, purchasing and finance positions for Home Depot subsidiary Your Other Warehouse.
Holmes said the decision to cut the positions was made on geographic and logistical concerns. Atlanta-based Home Depot has most of its support functions in its home city.
"It just makes sense to have those centralized here with similar functions," Holmes said.
Last October, Home Depot announced the layoffs of 400 people at its Baton Rouge call center. Holmes said those layoffs will be completed this summer following the opening of new centers in Atlanta and Ogden, Utah.
The company said employees will have the opportunity to pursue other positions with the company, and those who do not relocate or find another position in the company will be provided severance packages and outplacement assistance.
The 135 positions with Your Other Warehouse, which distributes bath and kitchen accessories, faucets and fixtures, will be consolidated in Atlanta. The 90 positions from the distribution facility also will probably end up in Georgia, he said.
None of Home Depot's retail stores are affected.
Earlier this week, Cincinnati-based Convergys Corp. said it will close its Baton Rouge call center and lay off 300 workers.
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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com
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