Thousands of Coca-Cola Co. employees found out this week whether they can keep their current jobs or must look for new ones. The human resources musical chairs could take a couple of months.
Coca-Cola's October takeover of the North American business of bottler Coca-Cola Enterprises brought nearly 60,000 new employees into the company. Coke now has nearly 70,000 North American employees, most of whom work in a bottling, distribution and customer service group called Coca-Cola Refreshments or a marketing and branding organization called Coca-Cola North America.
From Oct. 1 to Thursday, managers assessed employees and told them whether the merger would affect their jobs. Employees who could not keep their jobs will have the option to apply for positions at Coke in Atlanta and around the country. When filling positions that opened as a result of the merger, Coca-Cola says it wants to consider current employees first. Several rounds of internal job postings are planned.
"We will act with speed and thoughtfulness," chief executive Muhtar Kent told employees in an October meeting.
A Coca-Cola representative told the AJC that the company expects relatively little shifting, with most employees continuing the work they do today. The company declined to say how many departures it expects.
"The vast majority of folks are staying in their current jobs or something very similar," said spokesman Dan Schafer. "We expect a very small percentage of employees to actually leave the company."
Some factors that will play into staffing decisions will be whether employees have needed skills and are able to “embrace and accelerate change,” according to a memo sent last week to employees at Coca-Cola Refreshments and Coca-Cola North America. Coke’s managers will also consider diversity and the need for “cross-pollination” across different organizations within Coke.
By Dec. 31, managers are supposed to tell internal applicants whether they won their requested jobs at Coke. From January to March, employees left without a job will be told how much severance they will receive. Severance begins in March.
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