Laid off from Newell Brands.

What Newell Brands layoffs have meant for employees

If you held an office, sales or store job at Newell, the company's own year-end counts show the shrinking landed hardest outside its plants and warehouses. Manufacturing and supply chain roles went from about 14,000 in Newell's 2022 annual report to about 13,250 in its 2025 annual report. Everyone else went from about 14,000 to about 8,650, roughly 5,350 fewer by our arithmetic, and North America alone went from about 13,000 employees to about 9,850. Those are rounded counts rather than a tally of layoffs, and they also capture people who left on their own, but they show which side of the company got smaller. If you've stayed through more than one of Newell's cuts, that's a hard way to plan around a paycheck.

The December 2025 plan didn't stop at the U.S. border. Which jobs went in other countries, and when, depended on local law and consultation requirements there, according to the December 2025 8-K, and Newell's second-quarter 10-Q says those cuts were expected during 2026, under a plan it described as having limited impact on manufacturing or supply chain operations. If you work for Newell outside the U.S. and haven't heard where your role stands, it's worth asking HR, or an employee representative if your site has one, how far the local consultation has gone.

Several of the site cuts on record were consolidations. Chesapeake Bay Candle's Maryland production was headed to Yankee Candle's Whately plant in 2019, the Daily Hampshire Gazette reported, and Retail Dive described the 2024 Deerfield layoffs as part of a consolidation in which that distribution center was to stay open. The Network Optimization Project also left Newell with fewer distribution centers, as its 2025 restructuring note describes. If your site is losing work, it's worth asking whether that work is moving and whether the site taking it would offer you a transfer, since a move can be worth weighing against severance.

For anyone covered by Newell's 2023 severance plan, which reached only eligible employees of participating Newell employers in salary band 6 and above, two terms shape what actually reaches you. The plan reduced severance by any wages or pay in lieu of notice paid under WARN or a similar state law, so the two didn't stack, and it paid only people who returned company property and signed a general release. The severance and termination costs Newell recorded across its restructuring plans are company-wide charges, and a total like that can't tell you what any one person was paid. If a release is in front of you, it's worth checking which band and how many years of service the number assumes, and whether any notice pay came out of it.

The January 2026 Yankee Candle closings came under the December 2025 productivity plan, and Newell's 2023 severance plan lists a retail store closing among the downsizing events that can trigger benefits, though only for salary band 6 and above. If you lost a store job, it's worth asking HR which salary band you were in and whether any severance was offered to the store's staff.

Our WARN tracker holds no filing under Newell's names since the start of 2025. The U.S. professional and clerical separations in the December 2025 plan were mostly done by the end of that year, so if you were among them, the company's filings are where that round's scale is on record. Some of the tracker's filings sit under names like Rubbermaid, Coleman and Sanford rather than Newell. If you worked at the Atlanta headquarters, Georgia unemployment benefits are a useful next stop, and Yankee Candle staff in western Massachusetts can start with Massachusetts unemployment benefits.

A sourced history of Newell Brands layoffs

• December 2025, global productivity plan

  The board approved it November 26 to cut about 10% of professional and clerical staff, roughly 900 people, and close about 20 company stores, per the December 2025 8-K, which estimated $63 million to $78 million for cash severance and other termination benefits.

• July 2024, Yankee Candle distribution jobs in Deerfield

  About 100 distribution jobs at Yankee Candle's Deerfield, Massachusetts, center were set to end September 9 under a notice the state received in early July, Retail Dive reported, and Newell said it would support the workers with transition benefits.

• January 2024, Etna Township, Ohio, distribution center closing

  In a January 10 letter to Ohio, Newell said it would shut the Licking County warehouse it used for Yankee Candle and cut 190 jobs, with layoffs starting March 8, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

• January 2024, organizational realignment

  Approved January 4 and filed in the January 2024 8-K, the realignment moved sales, digital, accounting, quality and HR staff into center-led teams and aimed to cut about 7% of office roles, with $60 million to $70 million in severance charges expected.

• May 2023, Network Optimization Project for distribution centers

  Newell set out to streamline its North American distribution network with fewer distribution centers, and its 2025 restructuring note says the work was largely done by the end of 2024, with $8 million to $11 million estimated for severance.

• January 2023, Project Phoenix

  Committed January 17 and filed in the January 2023 8-K, Project Phoenix aimed to eliminate about 13% of office positions and fold five operating segments into three, with $80 million to $105 million estimated for severance and termination benefits.

• 2019, Chesapeake Bay Candle's Glen Burnie plant

  Newell planned to move Chesapeake Bay Candle's Maryland production to Yankee Candle's Whately plant and lay off 125 full-time employees in Glen Burnie, the Daily Hampshire Gazette reported.

What to do if you're laid off from Newell Brands

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Newell Brands's biggest hubs: Massachusetts, Georgia, Kansas, Illinois. 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 Newell Brands's hub states run: Massachusetts, Georgia, Kansas, Illinois, 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.