As you probably heard, Chesapeake Energy laid off 562 employees from its Oklahoma City campus yesterday. That accounts for nearly 20% of the Oklahoma City workforce.
In an exclusive interview with The Oklahoman's PR division, CEO Doug Lawler explained the difficult decision:
"The workforce reduction is very painful to me personally and to the leadership team of the entire company, but we have to take the necessary steps to remain a competitive, profitable company," CEO Doug Lawler said Tuesday in an exclusive interview with The Oklahoman. "We will take the necessary actions to protect our company, to protect our shareholders and all stakeholders, including the businesses in the community."
Before Tuesday's cuts, Chesapeake recently laid off another 60 people, Lawler said.
As a guy who got riffed from the corporate world in 2011, my thoughts go out to all the Chesapeake employees who were affected by this layoff. I also feel bad for their friends who will no longer get to tag along to Thunder games for free. Keep your heads up. We wish you the best of luck finding a new job or becoming a full-time blogger.
This is the second big layoff Doug Lawler has overseen at Chesapeake since he took control of the company in 2013. That year, Chesapeake let go of 640 employees at the Oklahoma City campus. Here's what Lawler told The Oklahoman's PR division in yet another "exclusive interview" after that rif: