WATERLOO, Wis. (BRAIN) — Trek Bicycle is restructuring and laying off staff. The company said less than 3 percent of its workforce is affected, but declined to provide any more details on the number of people or positions reduced.
Eric Bjorling, a spokesperson for the company, said the changes were not a reaction to a downturn in sales and that Trek has 50 open positions on its website based on evolving needs at the company. Bjorling also said Trek's retrained certain staff and offered them positions in other parts of the business to keep them on board.
"The nature of the business is changing rapidly. We have had to make some tough decisions, but at the same time the jobs we're hiring for today are vastly different than those we were hiring for 5 to 10 years ago. We have many needs now we're trying to accommodate," said Bjorling.
Some of the areas where Trek is investing in staff are content development including copywriters, photographers and videographers; IT technology and retail. Bjorling said that as Trek takes over more stores or opens new locations, it's investing in its in-house retail department. "That's probably the fastest-growing from a headcount perspective," he said.
"We're reorganizing and prioritizing. We found there were some redundancies and some things become less of a priority while others become more priority. When you look at the overall headcount, we'll be up net on the year," he added. "We're making decisions for the longer term and a better future for Trek and its retailers, the brand and the business."
Trek is moving into a 25,000-square-foot addition to its Waterloo headquarters early next week. The additional space will house product development areas, Bjorling said.
