CVS Health to Cut 5,000 Jobs

CVS Health is shedding 5,000 jobs. The Wall Street Journal first reported the layoffs on July 31, citing a staff memo.

A CVS Health spokesperson issued a statement to Drug Store News, which said, "Our industry is evolving to adapt to new consumer health needs and expectations. As part of an enterprise initiative to reprioritize our investments around care delivery and technology, we must take difficult steps to reduce expenses. This unfortunately includes the need to eliminate a number of non-customer facing positions across the company. We do not expect there to be any impact to our customer-facing colleagues in our stores, pharmacies, clinics or customer services centers. We’re committed to supporting impacted colleagues, and they will receive severance pay and benefits, including access to outplacement services."

[Read more: "CVS Expands Personal Care Line to Be Accessible for Disability Community]

The statement continued, "We do not anticipate there will be any impact to our clients and customers as we remain focused on our mission – continuing to provide the exceptional care and support our customers, patients and communities deserve and depend on. Throughout our company’s history, we’ve continuously adapted to market dynamics to lead the industry. The difficult decision we are making will set the company up for long-term success." 

With its CVS Pharmacy subsidiary operating almost 10,000 locations nationwide, Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS Health has over 300,000 colleagues – including more than 40,000 physicians, pharmacists, nurses and nurse practitioners. The company is No. 7 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of top food and consumables retailers in North America.  

This article first appeared on the site of sister publication Drug Store News.