Layoff Ax Falls at Leo Burnett Co.

Citing client cutbacks and a below-average attrition rate, Leo Burnett Co. laid off 52 employees on Friday, its first major wholesale cutback since 1983.
Jim Oates, chairman and regional managing director of Leo Burnett U.S.A. said the reductions, 2.2% of its total staff, were ‘across the board at all different levels.’ Although Oates wouldn’t give specific titles, the effects of the cutbacks were felt as high up as the senior vp level, one source said.
‘The economics continue to be not fairly progressive,’ Oates said in an interview on Friday.