Verizon Communications Inc. announced on 20 November 2025 that it will lay off more than 13,000 employees approximately 13 % of its workforce in a sweeping restructuring aimed at streamlining operations and refocusing on customer-experience.
Details of the Reduction:
- The job cuts were communicated via an internal memo from CEO Dan Schulman, who took the helm in October 2025.
- The workforce reduction begins immediately in the U.S., with international notifications to follow in the coming weeks.
- Verizon reported approximately 100,000 full-time employees at the end of 2024.
- The company will also cut back significantly on outsourced and external labour contracts.
- To support departing employees, Verizon established a US$20 million Reskilling and Career Transition Fund.
Rationale and Business Context:
In his memo, Schulman cited the company’s “current cost structure” as limiting its ability to invest meaningfully in customer value. He said the target of the cuts is to “re-orient our entire company around delivering for and delighting our customers.”
The staffing reduction is part of his broader strategy to make Verizon “simpler, leaner and scrappier,” following weaker than expected subscriber growth and increased competition from peers such as AT&T Inc. and T‑Mobile US, Inc..
Implications:
- For internal operations: The cuts mark the largest scale job reduction in Verizon’s history and signal a significant reorganising of how the company delivers services and deploys its workforce.
- For the industry: With telecoms facing margin pressures, subscriber-growth stagnation and heavy investment demands (e.g., 5G build-out), Verizon’s move may reflect wider cost-rationalisation trends across the sector.
- For affected workers: The transition fund offers training and job-placement support, indicating awareness of the need to manage workforce impact.
- For customers and market watchers: A leaner organisational structure may translate into faster decision-making and potentially different service models—but may also carry risk if cuts affect frontline customer-support or innovation capabilities.
Challenges / Considerations:
- Execution risk remains high: implementing large layoffs while maintaining service and network performance is a considerable operational undertaking.
- Brand and employee morale: Large-scale reductions can impact culture, retention of critical talent and reputation both internally and externally.
- Market context: Verizon’s subscriber metrics have shown weakness; analysts will watch how the restructuring actually translates into improved financial and operational performance.
- Economic and societal impact: Thousands of jobs are being cut, which has ripple effects on communities and ecosystem-partners.
Over the coming months, key indicators to monitor include:
- How Verizon allocates the savings from reduced labour and outsourcing to growth-oriented areas (e.g., fibre broadband, enterprise services, new technologies).
- Whether customer-experience metrics improve (churn, Net Promoter Score, service quality) as Schulman has emphasised.
- How the labour market reacts—and whether this sets a precedent for other telecom operators in the U.S. and globally.
- For regions outside the U.S., how many jobs are affected, and how localisation or outsourcing strategies evolve.
Verizon’s decision to cut over 13,000 jobs marks a significant turning-point for the company. Driven by competitive pressures, rising costs and a shift in strategic focus under new leadership, this restructuring aims to reposition the business for future growth. For employees, customers and the telecom sector at large, it will be important to watch how these changes play out in execution and whether the anticipated benefits materialise.
