Geek Squad agents among laid-off Best Buy workers
Addressing “lower business demand,” Best Buy has made a significant cut to its workforce and laid off a number of employees, including Geek Squad field agents, current and former workers told The Star Tribune in Minnesota.
Home-theater repair technicians and phone support specialists were among those impacted by the most recent wave of layoffs at the Richfield, Minnesotabased company, according to the newspaper.
The layoffs are part of a larger “restructuring plan” announced by Best Buy CEO Corie Barry in a February earnings call. The plan, which did include layoffs, was proposed in an attempt to “stabilize the company after months of declining sales,” the Star Tribune reported.
Barry said during the call that the “cuts would happen primarily in the first half of 2024 and would occur across the company.”
Making sure that “field labor resources” are properly balanced has been a top priority for Best Buy, and the company wants to “make sure we are providing the optimal experience for customers where they want to shop,” Barry said on the call.
And, Barry added, reduce parts of the business “where we expect to see lower volume than we envisioned a few years ago,” according to the newspaper.
Best Buy has not responded to USA TODAY’s request for comment.
It’s not immediately clear how many Best Buy employees have been laid off since the “restructuring plan” was announced, nor how many employees were impacted by the most recent wave since the company has declined to say.
Best Buy did tell the Star Tribune that “affected and eligible employees will receive severance, with some offered opportunities to transfer or reapply for jobs at the company.”
“We know better than anyone that the consumer electronics industry is always changing with new technology, more innovation and evolving customer expectations, and that means we need to make changes, too,” according to a statement obtained by the Star Tribune.
The company is intent on following the steps outlined in the February earnings call, writing that they were “making sure resources are balanced and directed to the right strategic areas so we can drive efficiency in our business and put ourselves in the best position for the future.”
Best Buy also announced a new artificial intelligence venture following the reports of layoffs. The venture, created in collaboration with Google Cloud and Accenture, uses “generative AI to provide our customers with even more personalized, best-in-class tech support experiences.”
The AI-powered virtual assistants are set to help Best Buy customers troubleshoot problems with products, change delivery details and manage software, among other things, according to a news release.
There are “several initiatives” planned to get the company back on track, and one of them is to make Geek Squad “more efficient,” according to the Star Tribune.
Barry said that the company would continue “to build out Geek Squad as a service, which would operate as a business-to-business model.”