“In order to remain the preferred management and franchise company in our industry, our technology organization is reinventing itself to deliver maximum value and stay relevant,” Marriott executives said in a statement.
Layoffs are expected to start as early as next month, with terminations expected to take several months to complete, some Marriott employees said Monday. Employees will essentially lose their jobs to create a new department and can apply for job openings with both Marriott and outside contractors that include IBM Corp. and Xerox Corp., they said.
Marriott had some 1,286 IT employees in 2011, down from 1,307 in 2010, according to Computerworld. Last year, the magazine ranked Mariott 22nd nationally for the “Best Places to Work in IT,” up from 38th in 2011.
Marriott’s training budget per IT employee rose to $1,767 in 2011 from $1,044 the year before, according to the magazine’s report.
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Marriott is among the largest private employers in Montgomery County and Maryland, with about 10,000 workers in the state. The company had some 127,000 employees worldwide as of Jan. 1, up 6 percent from a year earlier, according to annual reports.
Last month, Marriott reported that net income for the fourth quarter rose 14 percent, to $181 million, from adjusted earnings a year earlier. Revenues increased by 10 percent, to $3.8 billion.
Areva leaving Montgomery, AstraZeneca adding research center
Another blow to Montgomery County is the move of the North American headquarters of nuclear energy technology services company Areva from Bethesda to Charlotte, N.C. About 130 positions will be added in Charlotte during the next few years, Areva executives said in a news release.
A company spokesman could not be reached for comment Monday.
Some positive news for the county came Monday when AstraZeneca, parent of Gaithersburg biotech MedImmune, said it will establish a global research and development center at MedImmune’s headquarters. Marketing and specialty care commercial functions will be centered in Gaithersburg, with about 300 jobs moving there from Wilmington, Del., by 2015.
Montgomery County’s unadjusted unemployment rate has risen slightly in recent months and was at 4.9 percent in December, the most recent figure available Monday. That was up from 4.7 percent in November.
Frederick County’s jobless rate was 5.5 percent in December, up from 5.3 percent in November. January jobless rates for counties will be released Friday, said Maureen O’Connor, a state labor bureau spokeswoman.
Maryland created almost 7,000 jobs in January, with more than 8,000 private-sector positions formed, according to federal figures released Monday. The total state job figure for January was the highest in almost five years.
Maryland’s adjusted unemployment rate remained 6.7 percent in January, the same as in December.
The largest statewide jobs gain in January was seen in professional and business services, such as accounting and tax preparation, which added about 4,000 mostly administrative positions. Federal agencies decreased employment by 500 jobs, while county government saw an 800-job decline.
A breakdown on how counties are doing jobwise was not available, O’Connor said.