Waste Management reveals number of job cuts

Waste Management Inc. (NYSE: WM) said in a regulatory filing Oct. 29 that 650 salaried employees have voluntarily left the company as part of its restructuring efforts.

However, the Houston-based company does "not anticipate that all of these positions will be permanently eliminated," according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

"We anticipate saving in excess of $100 million annually from these actions when fully implemented in 2015," David Steiner, president and CEO of Waste Management, said in an Oct. 29 statement.

The Houston Business Journal broke the news in August that the company implemented a voluntary staff reduction plan. Employees in corporate functions, both in Houston as well as other locations, could elect to take the provided severance package or wait to see if they would be retained or let go once the voluntary phase of the reduction concluded.

"(The restructuring) continued the alignment of our corporate leadership and staff with the needs of our field operations," Steiner said in the Oct. 29 statement. "It's the natural progression from the 2012 restructuring of our field organization, which focused directly on better aligning our corporate and field leadership and empowering our customer-facing employees."

The 2012 restructuring efforts targeted a cost reduction of $133 million and cut roughly 800 workers.

As of Sept. 30, the company had $48 million of accrued employee severance related to the restructuring, which will be paid through the end of 2016, according to the filing.

In the third quarter, Waste Management had pretax charges of $67 million primarily associated with the restructuring, including $61 million related to employee severance and benefit costs.

Olivia Pulsinelli is the web producer for the Houston Business Journal's award-winning website. Follow her on Twitter for more.