GES Scales Back Its Las Vegas Staff
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 5/12/2008
GES Exposition Services announced cost-saving employee cutbacks during a recent first-quarter earnings conference call held by its parent company Viad.
At press time, GES Public Relations Manager Detra Page said the tradeshow general service contracting firm had completed all planned job eliminations. Page said the company would not announce specifics about its cutbacks, other than to say the affected jobs were "back-office positions, including a consolidation of accounting positions, not the jobs of those individuals who work directly with show managers."
On the call, GES President and CEO Kevin Rabbitt explained that the cutbacks that will save the company "seven figures" are necessary due to "uncertain economic times," adding that he remained "bullish" on the overall outlook for GES in 2008.
Page noted that the company continued to examine the possibility of placing some of the employees affected by cutbacks in other jobs within GES for which they are qualified. The GES Web site continues to list several job openings in Las Vegas, and Page added that the company would keep filling some specific jobs.
Because job cutbacks include severance payments, Rabbitt said that expected cost savings would not affect GES' bottom line until the third and fourth quarters.
