Quest Diagnostics to Cut 600 Jobs

Quest Diagnostics  is a name that most of your are less than likely to be familiar with, unless you happen to get a lot of lab work done that is. For those of you who are not too familiar with the company and what they do here is a look at how the company and how they have chosen to describe themselves, “Quest Diagnostics is driven to discover and deliver diagnostic insights and innovations that help to improve human health. We offer a wide range of products and services that benefit patients, healthcare providers, and pharmaceutical medical device companies, life insurance companies and employers…We are the world’s leading provider of diagnostic testing, information and services that patients and doctors need to make better healthcare decisions. Our services range from routine blood tests — such as total cholesterol, Pap testing and white blood cell count — to complex, gene-based and molecular testing. We perform medical tests that aid in the diagnosis or detection of diseases, measure the progress or recovery from a disease or confirm that an individual is free from disease. We have specialized expertise in cancer, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, and neurology.”

Sadly the company is getting ready to give the axe to about 600 workers in layoffs to come in the near future. While the company has said that the layoffs are going to come from management positions they have not outlined the cuts any further. So there is no firm date for the job cuts, no idea of where exactly the cuts are to come from or whether or not the cuts are slated to become a mass layoff action. For those of you who are not familiar with the idea of a mass layoff action here is a look at how the federal government defines the term, “The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program collects reports on mass layoff actions that result in workers being separated from their jobs. Monthly mass layoff numbers are from establishments which have at least 50 initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) filed against them during a 5-week period. Extended mass layoff numbers (issued quarterly) are from a subset of such establishments—where private sector nonfarm employers indicate that 50 or more workers were separated from their jobs for at least 31 days.”

The company put out a release about the layoffs, which are part of a larger effort designed to help make the company more profitable, “Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE: DGX), the world’s leading provider of diagnostic testing, information and services, launched a major management restructuring aimed at driving operational excellence and restoring growth. In addition, the company appointed senior leaders to head its new Commercial, Operations and Human Resources functions. The key element of the organization change will be to eliminate existing business structures and replace them with two new business groups, Diagnostic Information Services and Diagnostic Solutions. The changes are scheduled to take effect by January 1, 2013… With the launch of the new organizational structure, Quest Diagnostics will be able to focus more on customers, speed decision making and accelerate cost reductions.  As a result of eliminating complexity and empowering its employees, the company expects it will be able to eliminate three management layers, or approximately 400 to 600 management positions, by the end of 2013, thereby contributing about $65 million in savings to the previously announced cost reduction goal of $500 million associated with its Invigorate program.  Quest Diagnostics has about 42,000 employees.”

Are you interested to join Quest Diagnostics? check out Granted.com for current openings.