With the announcement that its January sales had slipped 9%, maintenance, repair, and operations products marketer W.W. Grainger said yesterday that it will cut 300 to 400 jobs.
The layoffs are in part due to the company combining its Lab Safety Supply and Grainger Industrial Supply units, which was announced in November. The Chicago-based company also said it has seen weakened demand across all customer end-markets and geographies.
In addition to the job cuts, the $6.9 billion Grainger is taking several other steps to cut costs. These include reducing employee travel expenses and relocation, eliminating merit increases for all executives and salaried employees, not filling open positions and reducing hours for part-time employees.