CVS Health, one of the biggest pharmacy chains in the U.S., will lay off 5,000 workers as part of the cost-cutting efforts. The news was first reported by Wall Street Journal, with the company later confirming the news in a statement.
According to CVS Health, the layoffs won’t affect “customer-facing” workers and mostly concern corporate positions. The company had around 300,000 employees at the end of 2022.
The employees who end up being laid off will receive severance pay and benefits while also receiving assistance in finding a new job.
“We do not expect there to be any impact to our customer-facing colleagues in our stores, pharmacies, clinics, or customer services centers,” a CVS Health spokesperson said in a statement.
In attempts to lower its costs, CVS Health is also limiting travel expenses, cutting down on the use of consultant and vendor services, and walking away from certain business initiatives.
The move comes as CVS Health is becoming increasingly focused on the healthcare services part of its business. The pharmacy giant made a couple of big acquisitions this year as part of the strategy, buying healthcare platform Signify Health for $8 billion and spending an additional $10 billion on primary-care clinics operator Oak Street Health.