Beverage major Coca-Cola has announced plans to lay off 2,200 employees globally as part of an ongoing restructuring process, amid the Covid-19 pandemic challenges. But this development is not expected to have much impact on the staff count of the Indian operations, according to sources.

Replying to BusinessLine queries, a spokesperson for Coca-Cola India said, “The Coca-Cola Company is on a journey to transform how it operates so we can emerge stronger from the pandemic and accelerate our growth. We are guided by our commitment to consumers, and we are in the process of building an organizational structure that will address their evolving needs and behaviours.”

“As we implement these changes, there will be organizational restructuring to align with our strategic direction. There will likely be new opportunities available for our existing associates as we build a faster, and more effective organization that creates shared local value. In India and around the globe this process is under way,” the company spokesperson added.

The India business unit currently employs about 200 people. As part of the restructuring process, the number of roles are likely to increase at the Indian business unit in the coming days, the sources stated. In its global statement, the beverage major had said that nearly half of these lay-offs will occur in the US.

In October, Coca-Cola India had offered a voluntary separation programme to employees who joined the company on or before September 1, 2017 as part of its global strategy. It is not clear, how many employees opted for the voluntary separation programme. The voluntary separation programme was not implemented at the company’s bottling arm, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Ltd.

Global rejig

In August, the beverage major had announced it is undertaking a strategic global re-organisation exercise, under which it decided to merge 17 business units to set up nine new operating units. In October, Coca-Cola also said it will also retire select under-performing brands and will pare down down the number of drink brands in its portfolio. The company had also said that while plans to streamline the company’s beverage line-up was under way before the Covid-19 outbreak, the pandemic accelerated the restructuring process.

The beverage major had also offered voluntary separation programme in various markets to minimise the impact of the structural changes and reduce the number of involuntary separations.

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