CDW layoffs hit hundreds after 'economic uncertainty' warning

Several ex-CDW employees have taken to LinkedIn to announce they have been laid off as part of a move by CDW to cut hundreds of employees in the wake of the company’s warning that fiscal Q1 2023 would be below expectations

IT solution provider CDW appears to be laying off hundreds of employees in the wake of a Tuesday warning by the company that its first fiscal quarter 2023 revenue would fall below expectations, and that it expects "intensifying economic uncertainty" to negatively impact the US IT market.

The Illinois-based group Tuesday said it now expects first quarter net sales of about $5.1bn, well below analyst consensus estimates of $5.28bn according to Seeking Alpha and significantly lower than the $5.95bn in revenue the company reported for its fiscal first quarter 2022.

CDW did not respond to a CRN request for more information, and as of late Thursday had not publicly said anything about layoffs either via a press release or regulatory filing.

CDW has about 15,100 employees.

Several CDW employees are reporting being laid off, including one who told CRN via an unsigned email that CDW has started a wave of layoffs. The firm is offering a severance package, but laid off employees are signing non-disclosure agreements, the employee said.

One area hit by the layoffs is the field services unit which had some redundancies after CDW's blockbuster $2.5bn acquisition of Sirius, the employee said.

Several employees have also taken to LinkedIn to report being laid off.

"Sad day! My employment at CDW has come to an end with today's announcements of economic layoffs at CDW! I will be looking for a new position with in the Cloud/IT Management space!" one ex-CDW employee wrote Thursday.

‘It's been a difficult day today. CDW has announced company-wide layoffs due to a tough tech economy and unfortunately, I have been impacted. I am looking for a new position within the Azure Cloud/IT space," wrote another ex-CDW employee Thursday.

A third ex-employee Thursday wrote on LinkedIn, "This morning, CDW announced layoffs across the company and, unfortunately, I was one of the impacted co-workers. I recognise that I'm not alone in this situation, and know that the economy and environment in tech have been tough, but I never believed It would happen to me. Despite the situation, I appreciate all the experiences and wonderful people I've met and known at CDW."

Another wrote, "Today was the end of one chapter for me and the beginning of another. CDW laid off a bunch of people today and I was one of them. I look forward to what is next."

On the job cuts-tracking site thelayoff.com, multiple posts by those claiming to be CDW or ex-CDW employees also discuss the layoffs. Posts suggest that anywhere from 600 to 1,000 employees are being laid off across the company. Other posts say that employees were told Thursday morning about the layoffs, and those who were affected were targeted with a follow-up email.

Another poster wrote, "We haven't been told anything on our team yet, but through Q1 and into this month, we've been told our billable time is being looked at carefully so I assume something may be in the works. I've been prepping for the possibility and have been getting a lot of inquiries from headhunters lately, so if it happens, I hope I'll land on my feet soon."

One post from three days ago suggested that layoffs were going to happen soon.

"Is there anybody here who has concrete info about the coming layoffs? We all know something is going to happen, but nobody seems to be willing to share anything beyond that. A lot of people are stressing over this, so if you could help and clear out the situation, please do," the anonymous poster wrote.