INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - 2,300 Eli Lilly and Company employees have accepted early retirement offers, part of an effort by the company to achieve $500 million in cost savings by reducing 3,500 positions.
On Tuesday, a company spokesman said Lilly is on track to achieve workforce adjustment goals announced on September 7.
The adjustments affect Lilly positions worldwide. Lilly said Tuesday they still expect to achieve the full reductions sought.
The company had expected that more than 2,000 of those positions would be US employees. The majority of them are taking part in a voluntary early retirement program. About 2.300 Lilly US employees sought to participate and were accepted into the program.
The Indianapolis-based company said that the majority of those accepting the package were Indiana employees.
The company said there would be other workforce reductions, including some site closures and work consolidations announced in September.
"We have an abundance of opportunities—eight medicines launched in the past four years and the potential for two more by the end of next year," David A. Ricks, Lilly's chairman and chief executive officer, said in the September release. "To fully realize these opportunities and invest in the next generation of new medicines, we are taking action to streamline our organization and reduce our fixed costs around the world."
Lilly said workforce savings will be about equally split to improve the company's cost structure and reinvest in the business, including product launches and clinical development for new indications and line extensions.