First Data Continues Streamlining Operations With Facilities Changes

First Data Corp. recently closed one office in Florida and plans to close a bigger one in New York next year, but the company still added 1,000 employees to its worldwide head count last year.

Newsday, the newspaper of Long Island, N.Y., reported Tuesday that First Data filed a report with the state of New York that it plans to close its Melville office by the end of 2017. That office employs 641 people, according to the notice.

But First Data disputes any assumption that that many people are actually losing their jobs, and says that despite the timing of the state filing, the planned Melville closure has been known for months.

“Our decision to exit our building in Melville was shared with our employees working there in the middle of last year,” the company said in a statement emailed to Digital Transactions News. “Since then, we have been working to match our people with opportunities at other First Data locations. For those who aren’t planning to relocate, we are working with other local employers, search firms, and government officials to help them find jobs in the area. Based on our current plan to exit our Melville building by the end of 2017, we plan to have sufficient office space in the region to house those who are remaining with the company.”

First Data reportedly plans to open another facility in the New York City area. The location of that facility hasn’t been announced, but some sources told Newsday they expect it to be in Long Island City, a part of the New York City borough of Queens.

First Data also filed a notice Monday with the state of Florida that it laid off 129 employees at its office in Maitland. The layoffs began last year, and the office actually closed two months ago, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

While First Data has signaled since before its initial public offering of stock last October that layoffs could be in the offing as it tries to make its operations more efficient, its headcount actually grew by 1,000 in 2015 to 24,000 from the 23,000 employees it had at the end of 2014, according to its two most recent annual reports. Some 97% of workers in 2014 were employed full time.

First Data reported in February that it incurred $13 million in restructuring costs in 2015’s fourth quarter and $53 million for the full year. Chief financial officer Himanshu Patel told analysts that the company expects total restructuring costs from what he called its “strategic expense-management program” to be $75 million.