Laid off from H&M.

What H&M layoffs have meant for employees

H&M's explanation for the Chicago notice was about customer service, and on its telling the work carries on. Its statement to What Now said customer volumes handled by the U.S. Customer Service Center would pass to an outsourced partner operating from Orlando, part of a single model built on outside partners during 2026. That's a different kind of cut from a store closing, since the customers stay and another company's staff handles them. The same global shift reached sites in Sweden, Denmark and the United States, Eurofound records, so Chicago was one piece of a wider change. What Now reported that the filing applied specifically to the office, so Chicago store staff weren't on it. The statement doesn't name the partner or say whether any Chicago staff could follow the work.

New York's notice is harder to read from the outside. It covers part of one office floor, and Retail Dive says H&M wouldn't answer which types of roles were most affected, so a filing can't tell you much about a particular desk. It gives an expected start for the layoffs, while the Illinois report shows one date for both the first and the last layoff in Chicago.

H&M describes its organizational changes as simplification. Its six-month report says it kept reducing the complexity of the organization and moved decisions closer to the customer, at a one-time cost of SEK 679 million in the quarter ended in May, tied to its sales markets and central sales organizations. That's a booked cost, not a count of people. Operating profit for the half rose even with it, while net sales fell. TheIndustry.fashion reported the UK consultation as part of those same organizational changes. H&M has been here before. Its November 2022 press release put a program aimed at administrative and overhead costs at around 1,500 positions, so roles behind the stores have been in scope twice since 2022.

Stores run on a separate track, and H&M talks about them differently. Its spokesperson told West Side Spirit that having the right stores in the right locations is vital to long-term growth, and described placing affected staff in "any available roles" nearby. Available is the word doing the work in that sentence, since a placement depended on a role being open. If you're offered both hours at a neighboring store and a payment to leave, you could set one against the other.

H&M's record splits at the Atlantic. In Spain, bargaining shaped both the count and the terms. The 2024 deal came in under the first proposal, per the Europa Press wire on Alicante Plaza, and FashionUnited says the 2026 office deal landed well below the company's first plan. Both used the same days-per-year formula, but the 2026 seniority top-up reached 8,000 euros against 4,500 in 2024, and that deal named internal and international redeployment and outplacement with Lee Hecht Harrison. Belgium's plan spelled out more than a payment, with notice periods not worked, a retraining unit and a 500-euro training budget per worker, though a union official quoted by La DH called the vote a choice between the last proposal and no deal at all. Spain's formula is the maximum under Spanish dismissal law, so it measures what bargaining won there. Illinois's report lists no union on the Chicago notice.

If H&M gives you a severance agreement in the US, negotiating its terms is one option to weigh. The 2026 notices were filed in Illinois and New York, and the rules for a claim in each sit on Illinois unemployment benefits and New York unemployment benefits.

A sourced history of H&M layoffs

• June 2026, New York corporate office notice

  A June 5 notice reported by Retail Dive listed 76 of the 246 employees on the 11th floor of 110 5th Avenue and said layoffs were to start Sept. 4. H&M cited changes to roles and team structures.

• May 2026, Madrid and Barcelona office deal

  Unions CCOO and UGT agreed with H&M on close to 100 dismissals at its Madrid and Barcelona offices, well below the first plan, with the final number open. The deal set the legal maximum severance and redeployment within the group, according to FashionUnited.

• March 2026, Ghlin distribution center closing announced

  H&M Logistics said it would close the Belgian site, with more than 440 jobs on the line. In the June vote La DH reported, 306 of 324 staff present backed a social plan with departures phased through September.

• February 2026, Chicago notice and customer service outsourcing

  H&M told What Now its US customer service volumes would go to an outsourced partner in Orlando, and the Illinois report listed 181 Chicago office workers for layoff on May 7. Maastricht's 250 planned job cuts came under the same shift, Eurofound recorded.

• January 2026, two Manhattan store closings planned

  A notice West Side Spirit reported in November 2025 said 31 people each at 150 E. 86th St. and 18 Church St. would be out of work by Jan. 19, 2026. H&M cited its normal procedure of placing staff in available roles nearby.

• October 2024, Spain layoff deal signed

  UGT and CCOO signed a collective dismissal deal covering 492 workers, down from 588 first proposed and 521 after that. Severance ran 33 to 45 days a year, capped at 24 months, in the Europa Press report on Alicante Plaza.

• November 2022, global cost program, 1,500 positions

  A global program on administrative and overhead costs entailed reducing the workforce by around 1,500 positions, with a charge of just over SEK 800 million expected, H&M said in its November 30 press release.

What to do if you're laid off from H&M

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. H&M's biggest hubs: New York, Illinois, California. 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 H&M's hub states run: New York, Illinois, California, 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.