Keysight Technologies to trim management ranks in planned layoffs

Keysight Technologies, which this spring announced a $25 million belt-tightening program, is laying off about 100 employees from its global workforce.

The layoffs for the Santa Rosa-based electronics measurement company involve mostly managers and will amount to about 1 percent of its total workforce of 9,600 employees.

At the Santa Rosa Fountaingrove Parkway facility, the layoffs will affect 1 to 2 percent of the site’s 1,300 workers, said spokesman Jeff Weber. That would be roughly one to two dozen employees.

The layoffs and a separate, voluntary retirement program will result in “a flattening of the company’s management structure” and a shift in the workforce to areas that can produce greater returns, including sales and research and development, Weber said.

The money saved will allow a reinvestment in high-growth jobs “that we need to continue to grow and to be successful,” he said. Some of those jobs would be added in Santa Rosa, ?though the amount is not yet known.

Keysight is the world’s largest electronics measurement company and the biggest business ever based in Santa Rosa. It operates 12 research and development centers around the world and does business in more than 100 countries.

The company announced the $25 million belt-tightening program in May, when it released financial results showing its quarterly revenues essentially had remained flat from a year earlier of $740 million. Net ?income had declined to $96 million from $110 million a year ago.

Most of the affected employees will be notified by the end of July and will leave the company by the end of October, Weber said. The workers will receive a severance package and other assistance.

Employees have until the end of the month to sign up for the voluntary retirement program. Those accepted to take part will receive six months’ pay.

You can reach Staff ?Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com. ?On Twitter @rdigit