Coronavirus cutbacks: One of Lexington’s largest employers is laying off workers
One of Lexington’s largest employers has begun laying off workers due to the pandemic.
Lexmark International, a document management technology company headquartered here, confirmed that COVID is forcing cutbacks.
The company did not provide information about how many employees would be impacted.
“Lexmark has informed employees that we will be reducing our workforce in some areas, including Lexington, in order to align our business with structural market changes related to the global pandemic,” the company said in a statement. “We are taking this difficult step to ensure that Lexmark is positioned for long-term success.”
Currently Lexmark employs 2,000 in the U.S. including 1,400 in Lexington, and 8,200 worldwide.
Lexmark was purchased in 2016 by a consortium of three Chinese companies and is now private. From 1995 to 2016 it was a publicly traded company. The company was formed in 1991 as a spinoff of IBM’s printer, typewriter and keyboard business. The company got out of the inkjet printer business in 2013.
In March, as the COVID pandemic hit, Lexmark instituted pay cuts for all employees worldwide for at least three months and implemented a hiring freeze.
According to Commerce Lexington, the top 10 employers in Fayette County are the University of Kentucky, with 16,743 employees, followed by Fayette County Public Schools (6,327), Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (2,938), Amazon (2,700), Conduent (2,500), Veterans Medical Center (2,300), Baptist Health (2,100), Catholic Health Initiatives (1,847) and then Lexmark, followed by Lexington Clinic (1,200.)
This story was originally published November 18, 2020 at 2:44 PM.
