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OREM — A Utah County firm will outsource the publishing segment of its business, costing about 80 workers their jobs.
The head of Orem-based Ziplocal told the Deseret News that the company has signed an agreement to move its print publishing responsibilities to Pennsylvania.
The company provides print telephone directories for businesses and communities in 300 cities across 33 states nationwide, as well as digital resources through mobile devices and the Internet. No other office will be impacted by the workforce reductions.
The announcement comes just a day after ATK and Salt Lake City announced a combined 450-plus layoffs on Thursday.
Olivier Vincent, Ziplocal president and chief executive officer, said the cutbacks come as the company transitions from a print-oriented information provider to a digital-oriented business, which he described as "absolutely booming."
Ziplocal employs about 160 people at its Orem and Salt Lake City locations. The company operates approximately 40 offices in 33 states nationwide, with about 900 employees.
Earlier this year, the company merged with Yellow Pages Group, whose domestic headquarters is located in Blue Bell, Penn. The parent company is based in Montreal, Canada.
In addition to publishing, the Orem office manages various functions, including finance, customer care, sales and marketing, Vincent explained.
"Only the publishing group and the contract management group … is affected by this (decision)," he said. The layoffs will be effective in three months.
"It's never good news when you do outsourcing," Vincent said. "We didn't want to take (employees) by surprise … so we're giving a lot of lead time to everybody."
The company will also provide severance packages based on years of service.
Vincent said the decision was difficult but necessary to help the company move forward.
"(The decision) allows the company to focus on the many digital expansion (projects) we're working on," he said. "We're launching new services in the social media world, the social commerce world (and) in the mobile world. That's where the industry is really evolving rapidly."
Vincent said that as the company transitions away from a print focus, it would create more digital jobs that some potentially displaced current employees could apply for. How many positions might be available has yet to be determined, he said.
"We're going to start posting them in the next three months, so I'm hoping that some of the people that are impacted by the (layoffs) will want to stay and apply for the new jobs," Vincent said.
E-mail: jlee@desnews.com
