Verizon Connect To Cut Jobs, Close Location In Waltham

WALTHAM, MA — Verizon is cutting dozens of jobs in Waltham and closing one of its locations here, Boston Business Journal first reported.

Verizon Connect, which is a provider of software, plans to lay off 49 people after Christmas, and will close its office on Winter Street, according to a filing sent to state labor officials.

A company spokeswoman told Patch the company gave employees a heads up last November about the move, which came about as a way to restructure workers to fit a company practice of co-locating teams with other workers doing similar jobs.

"This was not a big announcement or surprise to anyone," said Kyrs Grondorf a spokesperson for Verizon Connect. "We just moved those jobs out of Waltham and to our other Verizon offices," said Grondorf.

She said the company let them know employees could re-apply for their jobs in other spots, or plan for something else.

"We are still committed to that market from a talent perspective," she said. "Waltham is a very important market for us, this was just a decision made to get some teams in the right places to do good work on behalf of our customers."

The business opened as an Innovation Center in Waltham in 2011 and then acquired the Winter Street spot in 2016. Between 2017 and earlier this year several former and current employees rated the company poorly on Glass Door, which anonymously asks for input on how businesses are run, in an effort to help inform prospective employees.

One review posted in June mentioned layoffs may have come as a surprise on some level.

"When you go to tell an entire office they are laid off, maybe let the managers know ahead of time before you go behind their backs like that," the person, identified as a former employee, posted.

The other location on Sylvan Road lists some 20 job openings on its website.

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).