HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — Word of significant layoffs at the Zeeland-based Gentex Corporation popped up on Facebook Thursday night, April 30, 2020.
By Friday afternoon, Gentex spokesman Craig Piersma responded to WHTC’s inquiry for deatils with an email that read, in part:
“Gentex is incredibly thankful for its exemplary team members and their ongoing efforts to help us weather this pandemic. Over the past four weeks, we’ve been paying hourly employees for a shortened work week, even though they were not working, in order to help them financially during the shutdown.
“But due to the state’s extended Stay-at-Home order and the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis on our customers around the globe, Gentex is having to take the steps necessary to match the size of its operations to our estimated long-term demand.
“Several weeks ago we began accepting voluntary layoffs, and just yesterday [April 30, 2020], for only the second time in our history, we began initiating involuntary layoffs. We’re also soliciting salaried team members who might be willing to consider early retirement, and have begun the process of eliminating jobs that are no longer needed due to reduced customer demand.”
Piersma went on to say the situation is “situation is understandably very fluid.”
Gentex is an original equipment manufacturer and auto supplier specializing in microelectronics, vision systems, cameras and sensing displays, with services that include design and engineering (including software) chemical development and coatings, glass bending and processing and automated assembly, according to the company’s website, gentex.com.
Piersma told WHTC Gentex had, at the beginning of this year, 6,000 employees, with production based in Zeeland and sales, engineering and support offices in Germany, France, UK, Sweden, Korea, Japan and China.
Gentex President and CEO Steven R. Downing discussed the layoffs, without indicating an exact number of jobs to be cut, during the company’s first-quarter earnings call on April 24, 2020.
The social media posts by current and former Gentex employees indicated both salaried and hourly positions were being eliminated.
This is a breaking story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
