She says the move is seen as a last resort. "We take pride in our people, these are painful decisions," she says. The rest of the 200 layoffs are evenly distributed between regions and operating companies, though some areas are being hit more than others. "Florida is one of those markets hit harder, for example," she says, but would not elaborate further. The company has five divisions, including Opus North Corp., Opus Northwest, Opus East, Opus West Corp. and Opus South Corp.
Mark Rauenhorst, chairman and CEO, said in a statement that the industry conditions are the worst faced in the company's 55-year history. "Unfortunately, the stress and difficulties being incurred in the lending and capital markets require us to reduce costs across all of the companies," he said in the statement.
The firm is doing anything it can to curtail spending, the spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com. "We're decreasing travel, consolidating service vendors and relationships, and going through operations looking where it makes sense to consolidate and share services," she says. Also, the firm has pulled back on planned developments, though projects already in the pipeline are going forward, she says. For example, construction of 109,000-square-foot office building for accounting firm BKD LLP in Springfield, MO, announced in August, will still go forward.
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