Windstream Explains Layoff of 375-400 Employees

Windstream Communications announced the layoff of 375 to 400 managers Thursday. But the Little Rock-based Fortune 500 firm failed to say how many Arkansas employees would be affected by the cuts, or when.

"It's too early in the process to know specifically how many folks will be impacted locally," said David Works, the company's human resources chief.

It's not exactly what you'd expect from a company that made $6 billion dollars in 2011, paying $510 million back to investors. Works says the cuts are being made to reduce complexity, speed up the decision-making process, and reduce costs.

"We put this in place proactively because we want to have the right structure in place for growth going forward," Works said.

The state's chief economic forecaster, Michael Pakko, says it's a bitter pill for the employees affected, "...but overall, in the scheme of things, that's not a really huge number of the corporation," Pakko said. "That's three percent or less of their total workforce."

In a statement, the company said it would give severance pay to the laid off managers, and provide help finding new jobs.