NCR Offering Buyout to 25,000 Employees

NCR Corp. said Wednesday that it is offering financial incentives to nearly all its U.S. employees, hoping some will choose to leave their jobs with the computer maker.

The buyout offer will be made to 25,000 of the company’s 27,000 domestic employees, NCR said. Those who accept the offer must leave NCR on or about Feb. 11.

NCR, a unit of American Telephone & Telegraph Co., said the offer is part of a plan announced earlier to reduce its overall work force of 51,000 by as much as 15%.

Last month, NCR offered early retirement to 5,500 employees, but the company is uncertain how many will accept, spokeswoman Heather Heeter said.

In a statement, NCR President Jerre Stead said the most recent offer fits the implementation of a new business model.

“As we implement this new strategic model, which calls for fewer layers of management . . ., we must make difficult decisions about the size of our organization,” he said.

Under the buyout offer, employees with at least one year of service as of Feb. 11 who choose to leave NCR will receive “separation pay” based on length of service. Heeter said employees will receive one week’s pay for every year they have worked for NCR.

In addition, they will get a lump-sum payment of $5,000 plus 10% of their separation pay, as well as health insurance benefits for at least a year.

Maynard Brandon, an analyst with the Chicago-based brokerage firm Duff & Phelps, said computer companies that have previously made large machines have had to shrink because increasingly popular personal computers do not require the manufacturing resources.