Group O, a leading provider of supply chain and third-party logistics (3PL) services, announced Thursday, April 4, that it will be reducing its workforce over the next six months within one of its business divisions.
With headquarters in Milan, Group O announced in a news release, dated Wednesday, April 3, that it is committed to supporting the impacted employees.
The company’s release did not offer specifics on the jobs impacted. But in an email to the QCBJ, Rhiannon Nichols, Group O’s senior director of human resources, said all the impacted employees are in the Quad Cities and are part of Group O’s Supply Chain Division.
She indicated that the impacted employees were notified of the decision on Wednesday, but that the cuts will not take effect until Aug. 31.
“We are hoping to absorb as many employees as we can into other areas of the business as opportunities become available,” she told the QCBJ.
The announcement marks the second reduction in jobs for the Quad Cities-based company. In early January, company officials announced 68 jobs were being cut at Group O’s warehouse at 2916 78th Ave. West, Rock Island.
Of the latest cutbacks, Senior Vice President of Operations Connor Smith said “This decision comes as a result of changes to the operational model of a long-time client. Group O maintains a strong partnership with this client and will continue to work together on other business opportunities,” he said in the release.
Group O is a business process outsourcer specializing in packaging, incentive marketing, supply chain, and device testing solutions. In addition to the Quad Cities, it has major operations in Minnesota and Texas as well as a Mexico Group O unit. In all, it employs more than 1,000 professionals.
“It is with a heavy heart that we make this announcement,” CEO Kevin Kotecki said in the release Thursday. “The Group O team members impacted have been integral to our overall success, many have been with the company for several years.”
Describing it as a “challenging time for affected employees,” he said the company “wanted to provide them as much notice as possible to pursue other opportunities. We thank all our dedicated team members who have been a part of this business.”
Group O also pledged to assist employees in the job search and will be offering counseling services. It also said its remains committed to delivering high-quality services to its many Fortune 500 clients.
“Although this is a difficult time, Group O plans to seek new opportunities to repurpose this facility in an effort to bring jobs back to the Quad Cities,” Group O owner and second generation leader Gregg Ontiveros said in the release. “Group O has been a part of this community for 50 years and we will not let a shift in direction by one client change that.”
In the previous announcement in January, Mr. Kotecki said those cuts were due to a long-time client’s decision to bring production of one of their products back in house. In that situation, he said Group O was “able to move a number of the affected employees into other roles in the company.”
At the time, Group O said it had 583 employees at Quad-city locations with 257 in Rock Island.
Founded in 1974 by Robert “Bob” Ontiveros, the once small, Hispanic family-owned packaging company has expanded into a thriving multifaceted business enterprise still owned by the Ontiveros family.
