FCB went through a round of layoffs in its Chicago offices last week, impacting around 5% of employees.
“Due to changing scopes of work for a few clients impacted heavily by Covid-19 in our Chicago office, our team there has taken a difficult but necessary staff reduction of less than 5%,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement. “We are making added investment to support these departing employees with healthcare benefits through the end of the year, guidance and resources for reentering the job market and leads, where available, for placement at other FCB offices and IPG agencies. We currently do not anticipate any additional reductions across FCB.
In April, IPG CEO Michael Roth addressed a series of layoffs and other cost-cutting measures across IPG agencies.
The layoffs follow executive salary cuts and reductions in discretionary spending and other costs across FCB offices in March, according to a source with knowledge of the agency’s operations. While the agency had initially hoped to avoid any layoffs, reductions in spending for the second half of the year from clients serviced by the Chicago offic, which were particularly impacted by the pandemic, including travel and hospitality, led to the round of layoffs, according to the source. Other FCB offices have thus far avoided any need for such layoffs, and FCB’s New York office is currently hiring, the source added.