De Lage Landen is taking adequate measures

There have been numerous worldwide government initiatives to restore confidence in the financial markets. Unfortunately, the situation has not improved over the last months. As a consequence a global recession has developed at a pace not witnessed before. ‘This has not left De Lage Landen unaffected,’ says CEO Karel Schellens. ‘The entire financial industry, including De Lage Landen, is affected by this market turmoil.’

As a result of the economic situation, De Lage Landen has intensified some of its already existing efforts. ‘Especially those efforts that are aimed at enhancing the quality of our organization,’ says Karel. ‘We will be investing in infrastructure, processes and last but not least, our members. Our members are key in making this work.’ 

In addition De Lage Landen has lowered its growth ambitions due to scarcity of funding. ‘De Lage Landen is used to reporting double digit growth for years on end,’ Karel continues. ‘But now we have to adapt to lower growth rates. That in turn affects workload and consequently the size of our workforce.’

Based on analyses so far, De Lage Landen expects a reduction in force of approximately 3%. This measure has to a large extent already been executed. Objectively this reduction in force is relatively small. Especially in the light of major layoffs all over the world. ‘But it is still a very painful measure for us,’ says Karel. ‘Every FTE reduction is significant and important, but we have to act now to warrant a strong long term position.’