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RJ Scaringe Confirms Rivian Will Layoff Staff to Grow Sustainably

Bloomberg anticipated that Rivian was studying to cut about 5% of its staff. A few days later, RJ Scaringe wrote a memo to the company’s employees to confirm that the company was evaluating a layoff, even if in an apologetic fashion.
RJ Scaringe wrote to Rivian employees to explain the possible layoffs 8 photos
Photo: Rivian
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According to the letter obtained by several media outlets, the Rivian CEO said: “This is not how we intended for you to hear about this. (...) We had hoped these very sensitive and complex conversations would have stayed within Rivian until we could address them more comprehensively.”

We would not doubt if Rivian would now conduct an internal investigation to discover who could have told Bloomberg about the discussion to reduce the number of employees. Bloomberg said Rivian was focusing on teams with duplicated functions. Scaringe knows that the info can only have leaked from those who took part “in recent all-hands meetings.”

To prevent a talent diaspora, Scaringe said that his “team is the core of Rivian” and that the company is “working to be as thoughtful as possible as we consider any reductions.” With 14,000 employees, these layoffs could represent 700 people getting the pink slip.

Whatever happens, Scaringe said that the goal is to focus Rivian’s business “in order to stay ahead of the changing economic landscape.” As Sourcing Journal revealed, he added: “We are financially well positioned and our outlook remains strong, but to fully realize our objectives it is critical that our strategy supports our sustainable growth as we ramp towards profitability.” In other words, any job cuts would be strategic other than just to cut costs.

His concerns make perfect sense in an environment of supply chain shortages, lack of batteries and raw materials for them, and, most of all, for a company that is still spending money rather than making money selling cars. For Rivian to be profitable, it will have to achieve a much larger scale than it currently has with the R1 family (R1T and R1S). The factory in Georgia and the R2 family will be crucial to getting there.
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About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
Gustavo Henrique Ruffo profile photo

Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
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