Samsung isn’t laying off 10% of HQ workforce, they’re just relocating them

Yesterday, reports leaked out about a potential layoff sweep at Samsung. It was said they’re laying off 10% of the workforce at their main headquarters in South Korea, which would be a pretty significant cut as around 100,000 of their 320,000 global employees work there.

But the company has already come out to clear up and refute those claims. Samsung suggests that this is only a mere relocation of workers, whether it’s due to administrative shuffling or strategic changes.

This doesn’t sound all that dissimilar to the situation that cropped up nearly a year ago, when Samsung moved around 500 engineers out of their mobile division to position them in other departments (such as Internet of Things and TV).

It would be easy to assume Samsung’s moves are more about their struggles in the mobile arena, with a 37.5% drop in operating income for their smartphone business being the biggest indicator of the current situation.

That said, it’s important to remember that Samsung is a massive company, and their ever-changing needs will prompt periodic shuffles such as this just to make sure they’re splitting all their resources properly. We’re sure there’s nothing to worry about at the South Korean firm just yet, so if you took yesterday’s rumors as a sign of trouble then you should probably calm down until stuff like this starts happening.