Nestle in drive to reduce head count by 16,000
The strategy will involve increased automation, among other measures, and will target many areas of the business, including the supply chain.
THE BACKGROUND is sluggish sales growth. In its nine-month sales report for 2025 so far, Nestlé achieved real internal growth across the group of 0.6% on the previous year.
CEO Philipp Navratil, says: “The world is changing, and Nestlé needs to change faster. This will include making hard but necessary decisions to reduce headcount [by c. 16,000] over the next two years.
“We are working to substantially reduce our costs, and are increasing our savings target to CHF 3.0 billion (£2.83bn) by the end of 2027.”
The report adds Nestle aims to achieve this through ‘increased focus on operational efficiency, including leveraging shared services and automating our processes’.
The focus on ‘share services’ could mean looking at greater use of 3PLs.
Jobs targeted include c. 12,000 white-collar professionals across functions and geographies, and c. 4,000 as part of ongoing productivity initiatives in manufacturing and supply chain.
