KIELER, Wis. — More than 80 jobs at a Southwest Wisconsin corporate office will be eliminated in the coming months.
A Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) notice states Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI), of Kieler, will lay off a total of 83 employees who work in its soon-to-be-shuttered corporate office in Kieler. The layoffs will occur in two phases, the notice states. An initial round will take place Dec. 31, 2024, and the remaining staff will lose their jobs by March 31, 2025.
The company provides sanitation services and chemical products to food processing facilities across North America. The company will continue to operate its chemical plant in Kieler, which employs 44 people.
Employees were notified of the layoffs in August when PSSI announced that it is moving its corporate offices to Atlanta, Ga. In a press release issued in August, PSSI CEO Tim Mulhere described the move to Georgia as “strategic.”
The release also said the company was motivated to move due to the diverse workforce available in Atlanta as well as its proximity to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which will “enable PSSI team members to travel to any of its hundreds of customers, prospective customers and internal members with greater efficiency.”
Gina Swenson, PSSI vice president of marketing, said some of the employees in the Kieler office were offered the opportunity to move to Atlanta but could not confirm if any had done so.
Swenson said affected employees will receive severance packages and that PSSI is offering them career transition coaching and resume consultations.
According to the WARN notice, the expertise of the affected office employees runs the gamut and includes information technology, payroll and human resources.
Grant County Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Ron Brisbois said it’s rare that this many experienced corporate office workers enter the job market at once. He said his organization has communicated with Greater Dubuque Development Corp. to make sure area employers know of the upcoming influx of workers entering the job market.
“We are trying to make sure this is well publicized so businesses can step forward and get in front of these displaced workers,” Brisbois said. “We are also working to get in front of the employees to make sure they can stay in the area. We know there are (job) opportunities in similar job fields.”
Brisbois said the Grant County development group is equipped to assist the affected workers and has reached out to state and regional workforce organizations regarding the layoffs.
“We will be getting the employees in touch with resources we have available to know what their options are,” Brisbois said. “From what I understand, some have already been attending job fairs even before the (WARN) notice was filed.”