Laid off from Bayer.

What Bayer layoffs have meant for employees

The closings that followed the Monsanto purchase fell on office work. Bayer's statement on Robinson, as WPXI printed it, framed that closing as the first step in consolidating U.S. administrative functions to support two headquarters, agriculture in St. Louis and healthcare in Whippany, at a time when Bayer said it employed more than 20,000 people at 300 U.S. locations. The Mishawaka center that closed the same year took customer orders for the consumer health and pharmaceutical businesses, Inside Indiana Business reported. If you hold a support job at a Bayer location away from those two cities, Robinson is the example on record of what that consolidation meant for a site outside them, a whole administrative campus slated to close over two years.

The overhaul that started in 2024 went after hierarchy. About two-thirds of the roles cut in its first quarter were managerial, BioPharma Dive reported, and by late 2025 Chief Executive Bill Anderson put Bayer's managers at roughly 5,000, down from about 15,000, according to BioSpace. If you managed people at Bayer, those numbers describe your layer. The company's own count fell from 99,723 in December 2023 to 98,189 by March 2024. Timing split by country too. Bayer expected to finish U.S. layoffs by the end of 2025, while employees in Germany, who have stronger labor protections, wouldn't be formally terminated until the end of 2026. The American side was scheduled to finish first, so for U.S. staff the program's exits were planned inside 2024 and 2025.

Not every role in the overhaul disappeared. Bayer's spokesperson told NJBIZ in 2024 that the U.S. changes left some positions eliminated, others redesigned and a few new ones created. If you're offered a redesigned version of your job, its level, pay and reporting line are the details that show how much it changed. New Jersey's WARN list shows the second Whippany notice with three effective dates, December 27, January 30 and February 20, so a single notice can end jobs in stages. New Jersey unemployment benefits covers claims filed in that state.

In Hawaii the cuts reached the farms themselves. The July 2026 notice lists field crews, seed technicians, maintenance technicians and operations staff, and it gives each job title one of two anticipated end dates, September 27 or December 27, so people on the same farm can leave months apart. If you're on the notice, the date beside your title shows which of the two waves you're in. Neither Hawaii filing in our tracker lists a job count, so the 62 at Lower Kunia and the 14 at Kihei come from Bayer's own letter to the state. Bayer entered Hawaii's seed business in 2018 by buying Monsanto, the Star-Advertiser noted.

Where Bayer's statements give detail, severance has run through the plan or policy covering each group of workers. Its 2006 integration release tied packages to the normal policies of each company being merged, and at Berkeley in 2018 salaried and union-represented staff were under different separation plans, BioSpace reported, so two people cut the same week could leave on different terms. None of what Bayer said about its 2018, 2019 or 2026 cuts, as BioSpace, the Associated Press and the Star-Advertiser relayed it, put a number or a formula on the pay. If a package is offered, the decision window and whether outplacement is included, as it was at Berkeley in 2018, are worth weighing next to the amount.

A sourced history of Bayer layoffs

• July 2026, Hawaii seed farm consolidation

  Bayer Research and Development Services listed 62 affected employees at Lower Kunia on Oahu and 14 at Kihei on Maui in its notice to Hawaii, among them field crews, seed technicians and operations staff, and offered career counseling and help finding work inside Bayer or elsewhere.

• 2024, Whippany, New Jersey notices

  Two Bayer notices for Whippany sit on New Jersey's 2024 WARN list, one for 35 workers effective August 29 and one for 96 with effective dates from December 27 into February 2025. Bayer was eliminating or redesigning some U.S. positions under its new operating model, a spokesperson told NJBIZ.

• First quarter 2024, cuts under the new operating model

  Bayer eliminated 1,500 roles in the first three months of 2024, and on the first-quarter earnings call Chief Executive Bill Anderson said about two-thirds were managerial, BioPharma Dive reported.

• February 2019, Mishawaka, Indiana customer logistics center closing

  Bayer said it would close its customer logistics center in Mishawaka over 18 months, costing 200 jobs, the Associated Press reported. Its WARN letter to Indiana put the expected count at 172, with layoffs starting November 8, according to Inside Indiana Business.

• January 2019, Robinson, Pennsylvania campus closing

  Bayer announced it would close its administrative site in Robinson over two years, an opening move in gathering office functions around its St. Louis and Whippany headquarters, in a statement WPXI published.

• October 2018, Berkeley, California plant reorganization

  Bayer cut 227 jobs at its Berkeley manufacturing plant, most on October 3, after 200 left through voluntary buyouts earlier that year. Everyone affected was eligible for separation benefits and outplacement, BioSpace reported.

• November 2006, Schering and Berlex integration

  After buying Schering AG, Bayer said folding in Schering and its U.S. unit Berlex would eliminate about 600 U.S. positions, mostly in research, closing research sites in West Haven, Connecticut and Richmond, California, according to its November 2006 release.

What to do if you're laid off from Bayer

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Bayer's biggest hubs: New Jersey, California, Hawaii. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Bayer's hub states run: New Jersey, California, Hawaii, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.