Maritz Inc., one of the largest companies in the meetings business, announced about 100 layoffs this week as part of a restructuring of the company to give its individual business lines more independence.
“The long and short of it is, Maritz is in the process of establishing more independently managed businesses,” says Beth Russert, a spokesperson for the St. Louis based firm. “That means shifting some resources into the business closer to the clients, where they were in the central function before—creative, payroll, things like that—and with those shifts came some changes in our staffing needs. There’s been a combined analysis that looked at both the market and what we need from a staffing perspective.”
The firm's three main business arms, Maritz Travel, Maritz Loyalty and Motivation, and Maritz Research, the marketing research arm, will remain focused the way they are, as will its smaller businesses like themed and filtered gift card provider InteliSpend, she says.
“It’s much more about allowing those businesses to operate independently, such that they can respond as quickly as possibly to market dynamics, what’s changing,” Russert says. “The realization is things are changing so quickly and not all of our businesses have the exact same needs. They’re structuring it so each business can look independently at the costs it needs, the resources it needs.”
While the layoffs are spread widely across the company, the leadership has not changed at this point, Russert says. “It could shift over time, but right now it’s much more focused on helping the business presidents set themselves up to be successful, and to organize their businesses more independently.” Steve Maritz remains CEO and chairman.
While acknowledging that “nothing is growing as fast as you’d like” Russert says that because of the toll the economy has taken on employees, and because companies will need to reenergize those employees, “the feeling is we’re really well positioned, and we’re really trying to help our businesses have as much clarity as possible and be able move as quickly as possible as the market expands and as things shift.”