Medtronic layoffs continue as it realigns workforce to ‘strategic priorities’

Medtronic continues this year to quietly trim jobs.

The company run from Fridley began far-reaching global layoffs in April 2023 but has disclosed little information, including how many employees were cut.

A new round of layoffs hit in early May, according to social media posts from affected employees. Several of them said the layoffs were numerous.

In a statement the company acknowledged that it is cutting some jobs: “Medtronic continually evaluates its operations and aligns our resources with our highest strategic priorities. As part of those efforts, the company will reduce roles across our global workforce.”

The company again declined to give specifics, from the number of employees affected to impacted business divisions or geographic locations.

Medtronic said last year the cuts were necessary because of macroeconomic forces from inflation to currency exchange rates. For its just-completed fiscal fourth quarter, revenue was essentially flat.

At the beginning of the year, Medtronic CEO Geoff Martha announced plans to close five manufacturing plants and six distribution centers as part of an effort to improve the company’s supply chain. The company did not detail the locations of the shuttered operations and declined to say how many jobs were affected by those moves.

Medtronic, the world’s largest medical device manufacturer, is based in Ireland, but its operational headquarters are in Fridley. The company employs more than 95,000 people globally, with about 11,000 of them in Minnesota.

Reports have continued to surface this year about batches of job cuts in select business units. In February, the company announced that it would exit the “increasingly unprofitable ventilator product line.”

Medtronic took $439 million in charges for exiting the ventilator business.

In March, Medtronic indicated that the exit of its ventilator business could lead to up to 40 job cuts in Ireland. That same month Medtronic notified the state of California of its plans to cut 44 jobs in Carlsbad, also connected to the ventilator business.

In May, Medtronic disclosed plans to cut 35 jobs in Israel. The jobs were part of Mazor Robotics, a firm that Medtronic acquired in 2018 for $1.6 billion.

Beyond layoffs, last year Medtronic offered a voluntary early retirement program for some U.S. employees.