Honeywell workers face cutbacks as coronavirus continues to hit Charlotte’s economy
Honeywell, one of the Charlotte region’s largest corporations, is making some employees take unpaid leave or reducing their hours amid the economic fallout from the coronavirus.
The Fortune 100 company, which manufactures everything from airplane cockpit systems to oil refineries to security systems for hospitals, made the changes to “match production volumes with demand,” a Honeywell spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.
In addition to unpaid leave, some workers have shorter hours or staggered work schedules, the spokeswoman said. She did not provide the number of employees impacted by the moves, but said the sites instituting the reductions are acting “based on customer demand.”
The company will also cut base pay, bonuses and multiyear incentive plans for executives, which includes the board of directors and CEO Darius Adamczyk. Adamczyk earned $20.5 million in 2019 between his salary, options, bonuses and other compensation, according to a March filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“We do not take these actions lightly because we know they will impact our valued employees, but we are acting to keep rather than eliminate jobs,” the company said.
Honeywell moved its headquarters to Charlotte last year, lured by more than $87 million in incentives from the state, city and county. In return, the company has promised to bring 750 jobs to the county in the next four years. When the move was announced in November 2018, state legislators told the Charlotte Observer that the median wage for the jobs would be $85,000.
The economic fallout from the coronavirus has hit corporations large and small in Charlotte.
The combined market capitalization of the 19 large public companies in Charlotte, which includes Honeywell, dropped by around $400 billion between Feb. 19, right before the stock market’s fall, and March 20, according to an Observer analysis.
