Academy Sports + Outdoors said it will be laying off approximately 140 non-customer-facing positions largely due to the outsourcing of certain IT functions at the retailer.
The retailer said in a statement, “Academy Sports + Outdoors, like many brick-and-mortar retailers, has been implementing a strategic realignment to help our organization grow and be more effective and responsive to our customers. The changes announced this week are the next step in transforming our business. Approximately 140 non-customer-facing positions will be impacted. These changes primarily involve the outsourcing of certain IT functions to a U.S.-based company. Team members leaving the organization are eligible either for a severance package or a role with the third-party IT services provider. We are retaining more than half of our corporate IT personnel. The new organizational structure will be better aligned with our business priorities, and will put us in a position to better serve our customers in an ever-changing digital age.”
The statement arrived after Academy confirmed to the Houston Chronicle that it was laying off 57 transportation employees after outsourcing their work to a third-party company. Those employees include two salaried positions and 55 hourly positions.
An Academy spokesperson said in an e-mail to the Chronicle, “Academy Sports & Outdoors, like many brick-and-mortar retailers, has been implementing a strategic realignment to help our organization be more efficient, nimble and responsive to customer demands. Outsourcing our transportation network is the next step in that process. The goal of this transition is to modernize and expand our transportation functionality to a growing network of stores.”
