CDW Layoffs Reportedly a Blow to Hundreds of Workers Globally

CDW layoffs have reportedly displaced hundreds of workers after the company’s CEO said its first quarter was “a period of intensifying economic uncertainty.”

Employees posted about the CDW layoffs on TheLayoff.com. One worker said the CDW layoffs impact 600-700 workers globally.

“I’m not sure who made the decision on who to lay off, but I can say with certainty that they made several major mistakes,” one worker said. “We lost some excellent folks today whose absence will be felt, that’s for sure. It feels like sometimes the management can’t see the forest for the trees.”

“I think we lost a lot of people with a lot of knowledge,” another worker posted. “Still sifting through the wreckage. Not my first layoff rodeo, but this one feels really different, and not in a good way.”

CDW isn’t confirming the layoffs. Its first quarter ended March 31.

CDW Layoffs Follow Dismal Earnings Forecast

Earlier this week, Christine Leahy, CDW’s chair, president and CEO, said customers are spending more cautiously and prioritizing mission-critical initiatives.

CDW’s Christine Leahy

“This demand contraction resulted in first-quarter performance below our expectations,” she said. “Volume declines were most acute with our largest commercial customers and across transactional products. Solutions were more resilient, but performance also came in below our expectations. While these results were disappointing, the team executed well in a rapidly changing environment.”

CDW expects the U.S. IT market to decline at a high single-digit rate in 2023, recognizing that “a number of wildcards may impact this view as the year progresses, Leahy said.

First quarter net sales totaled $5.1 billion, compared to some analysts’ expectations of $5.58 billion. It now expects full-year 2023 earnings to be “modestly below” full-year 2022.