This past Monday an Exelon representative at the ANS Annual Conference in Atlanta provided a compelling description of efforts they have underway to attract and retain nuclear talent. Three days later the company announced they will eliminate 500 jobs, including 400 from their corporate staff. It raises eyebrows because the company is viewed by others in the industry as already “lean” and very effective at corporate oversight of their nuclear operations.
John Rowe, Chairman and CEO of Exelon
Having been through several reorganizations in three different nuclear companies, I certainly understand the need to periodically reassess and adjust the structure and size of an organization. On the other hand, I can’t help but wonder how the layoffs will be viewed by the company’s workforce development partners and by potential new employees who may be considering careers with one of the industry’s largest employers.
Fortunately, there are plenty of opportunities out there for displaced Exelon employees. A quick look at just one job posting board revealed more than 50 openings.
The company also stated they intend to reduce pay and freeze executive salaries to yield a savings of $350 Million next year which is about 3.5% of their operating and maintenance budget.
While Chairman and CEO John Rowe blamed the economic slowdown on the need to cut jobs, it’s tough not to consider how the cost-cutting might be related to Exelon’s attempt at a hostile takeover of NRG Energy.
Addition 6/26/2009 – Sources at Exelon stated that the layoffs announced earlier in the week would be focused in corporate suppport functions and would not affect nuclear technical functional areas.
#1 by Ioannes - June 19th, 2009 at 20:23
Exelon’s move is depressing. I hope that Entergy doesn’t follow suit. I think you’re correct that this “might be related to Exelon’s attempt at a hostile takeover of NRG Energy.” It’s hard to know what these CEO’s are thinking.
#2 by April - June 23rd, 2009 at 09:03
As I told John in a tweet, I don’t think Exelon’s nuclear division is affected by the 500 job cuts — that organization is already very lean and very smart. Remember Exelon is a huge and diverse organization, with some !6,000+ employees and comprised of two T&D divisions in Illinois and PA, other non-nuclear generation and a very large and unwieldy, in my opinion, centralized services org (HR, communications, finance, legal, public affairs, etc.).
Of course *some* of the cost-cutting has got to be directly related to NRG and the proposed acquisition, and I’m not surprised Exelon didn’t come out and say that. I am, however, very disappointed that my former colleagues weren’t smart enough to better position the rest of this important message to ease concerns. Not providing specifics about those cuts was a dumb communications move. Even if nuclear is not affected, people are left to speculate. And the perception sends a very bad message to potential future recruits in an industry that already is and will certainly continue to be highly competitive for talent.