600 voluntarily retire from Kimberly-Clark

APPLETON, WI — Roughly 600 Kimberly-Clark Corporation employees have taken the company up on its offer of voluntary severance to ease cost burdens facing the company in these trying economic times, according to the Appleton Post-Crescent.

The offer was initially made to about 7,000 salaried employees throughout the United States in April; the company expects to eliminate about 1,000 of those positions, the story stated.

Employees had until May 22 to decide whether to accept the offer which is tailored to each worker and based on position and seniority, the story noted.

Kimberly-Clark spokesman David Dickson said: "We expect to reduce the number of positions in the United States by up to 1,000, and those employees who elected voluntary severance will lessen the impact overall. Now that we know the number of individuals who elected to take advantage of the voluntary severance program, our business and functional teams are in [the] process of developing detailed organizational plans."

Each worker will receive an extension of health insurance benefits, outplacement assistance and consulting, the story added.