Lands' End Announces Plan to Lay off 200 Employees

By Oliver VanDervoort
Contributing Writer

Starting up a new call center in a new location can be a really good way to gauge how a company is doing when it comes to the bottom line. Companies around the world realize that a growth in assets such as a call center or customer service center can mean that they are seeing great revenue. 

The flip side of that rule is that if you are struggling, there is no better way to tell other people that you are indeed struggling than to downsize the number of people that work for your company. Lands’ End is not yet admitting that they are struggling but the company has downsized the call center staff at its home base in Dodgeville, Wisconsin.

Lands’ End has been a trendy clothing retailer for a couple of decades now, but the company is doing some restructuring in order to maximize its revenue. The company has long been one that has depended quite a bit on a large volume of Internet sales. The company says that their removal of 200 employees from their Dodgeville call center is more a reflection of just how much business the company does online. The cutting of those 200 employees means an eventual reduction in the company’s work force by 29 percent. 

Lands’ End says that almost 80 percent of its sales are being done online. Because of this major swing to the Internet, the company is losing no time in adjusting the way they have their employees sorted out. The company has actually already laid off 50 employees from their front office. The company has also laid off 25 employees from their call center with another 125 expected to be let go after the holiday shopping season is over. The company says that 125 will be pulled from a mix of full and part time employees.

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