Synchrony looks to reduce real estate, headcount

STAMFORD — Consumer financial-services firm Synchrony plans to exit a number of its leased properties and could also reduce its workforce to cut costs in response to the coronavirus crisis.

Those changes comprise part of a strategic review that the Stamford-based firm launched in July, the company noted in a filing this week to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Those measures would lead to restructuring charges between $90 million and $110 million in the third quarter of this year for the No. 170 company on this year’s Fortune 500 list. But they could lead to savings next year between $150 million and $250 million.

“Synchrony continues to manage the company for the long term, taking actions to become stronger and more competitive as we manage through the economic cycle caused by the pandemic,” the company said in a statement this week. “As part of Synchrony’s ongoing transformation, we continue to drive efficiency and cost savings across our business.”

Synchrony did not specify in the filing which offices it planned to leave. It is still committed, however, for the long term to its Stamford headquarters after it renewed its lease last year for 313,000 square feet at 777 Long Ridge Road.

A map on its website shows about 20 other company locations in the U.S., including Chicago; Charlotte, N.C.; Marlborough, Mass.; Bridgewater, N.J.; Orlando, Fla.; Phoenix; Salt Lake City; San Francisco and San Jose; and other sites in

Synchrony headquarters at 777 Long Ridge Road in Stamford.

California, Arkansas, Ohio, Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, Puerto Rico, South Dakota and Washington.

The decreased office footprint reflects major shifts in Synchrony’s workplace arrangements that have been instituted

Hearst Connecticut Media file photo