Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center said it has laid off 76 employees and eliminated 81 open positions June 30 in response to financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The layoffs and eliminated positions are the latest in a series of cost-cutting measures the organization has instituted since March to deal with reduced revenue linked to the pandemic.
The measures aim to reduce a projected revenue shortfall of nearly $50 million over the next year, the center said. Increased volatility in revenue sources, including philanthropy, is expected to lead to the shortfall.
The layoffs are all in the organization's administrative division, and the percentage of affected positions is less than 5 percent of the overall workforce, the center said.
"We made the extremely difficult decision to implement layoffs only after enacting a series of other cost-saving measures and thoroughly evaluating a range of additional options," Thomas J. Lynch Jr., MD, president and director of the center, stated in an email to staff.
Other cost-cutting measures include eliminating salary increases for fiscal year 2021 and reducing executive salaries by 5 percent.