Black Hills Energy has announced layoffs across their eight-state region, with the majority occurring in the Black Hills area. A total of 44 employees were laid off, with 24 of those positions in Rapid City. The layoffs are attributed to the current economic challenges, including high inflation and interest rates. The company aims to focus on customer-facing roles, and around 15-20 customer-facing positions are expected to be posted in the coming months. Affected employees were offered generous severance packages and placement services. The layoffs will not impact customers. Adrian Carbajal reported
Black Hills Energy has recently announced layoffs in their eight-state region, with the majority of job cuts occurring in the Black Hills area. A total of 44 employees have been laid off, with 24 of those positions being in Rapid City. The company attributes these layoffs to the current state of the economy, including high inflation and ongoing issues with interest rates. The goal of these layoffs is to ensure that cost increases are not passed on to customers. The affected jobs were primarily corporate functioning roles, and the company is now focusing on becoming more customer-facing. As a result, they plan to post 15-20 positions in the coming months that will be more customer-oriented. Employees impacted by the layoffs have been offered generous severance packages and placement services to assist them in finding new employment. The layoffs are not expected to have an impact on customers..
Black Hills Energy recently made the announcement of layoffs occurring throughout their operations in eight states, mainly impacting the Black Hills area. In total, 44 employees were laid off across the region, with 24 of those positions being in Rapid City. According to Black Hills Energy officials, these layoffs are a result of the current state of the economy. The company has been facing challenges due to prolonged high inflation and ongoing issues with interest rates. Wes Ashton, Vice President of Utilities, explained that they are striving to prevent passing on the cost increases to their customers.
The affected jobs were primarily corporate functioning roles, which is not the current focus of the company. Black Hills Energy aims to become more customer-facing and has undergone a strategic realignment to achieve this goal. Ashton stated that the layoffs were part of this realignment process, ensuring that employees are placed where they are needed most, which is in customer-facing positions. While 24 positions were eliminated locally, the company plans to open around 15-20 positions in the coming months that will have a stronger customer focus.
Ashton assured that all employees affected by the layoffs were offered generous severance packages and placement services to assist them in finding alternative employment opportunities. He emphasized that these layoffs will not have any impact on the company’s customers.
Overall, Black Hills Energy has taken necessary steps to adapt to the current economic challenges by strategically realigning their workforce and prioritizing customer-facing roles..