Milwaukee-based WEC Energy Group has cut about 2 percent of its workforce this week as it integrates Integrys Energy Group following the massive $9 billion acquisition of the firm in June.
The company declined to give an exact number of layoffs, but said fewer than 200 jobs were eliminated among Green Bay, Milwaukee and Chicago, said Brian Manthey, a spokesperson for the company.
“Most of the positions were duplicate positions due to the acquisition of Integrys,” Manthey said. “We took a look at that over the last few months and determined what was the best way to move forward … with more so the corporate side. From a reliability standpoint and making sure we serve our customers, those positions were not affected.”
There were no union employees impacted by the layoff, he said. Most of the duplicate roles were corporate positions in the six utilities that previously made up Integrys, and were based in Green Bay.
As of August, WEC Energy had 9,300 employees. Today, the total employment is between 8,800 and 9,000, which includes normal attrition as well, Manthey said.
Gale Klappa, chairman and chief executive officer of WEC Energy, told BizTimes in August that WEC didn’tt expect any major job reductions outside of the executive suite sweep WEC it had already completed at that point.
