Thirty-One Gifts (Ohio) Will Lay Off 182

Another day, another mass layoff notice, as reported by the Newark Advocate:

A central Ohio company growing so fast it expanded to Easton Town Center 16 months ago announced Thursday the layoffs of 182 employees, including 92 in Johnstown.

Thirty-One Gifts, a direct-selling company that specializes in personalized gifts, laid off 90 at its Easton office, as well as 92 at its Commerce Boulevard facility at the Johnstown Industrial Park.

The private company, moved by founder and President Cindy Monroe from Tennessee to Johnstown in 2009, also operates facilities in Springfield and another in the Columbus area.

Normally, this story would hardly be worth reading, except for the particularly dopey quote from the president and founder of the company:

“Throughout 2011, we invested heavily in systems, improved infrastructure in our call center operations, warehouse, and order management systems and in the hiring of employees,” Monroe stated in a press release.

“All of this led to great efficiencies and a great experience for our consultants and customers. The efficiencies also resulted in excess employee talent that isn’t required to meet our 2012 business strategies. This was an extremely difficult decision as we value all our employees’ contributions to our success.”

Company officials could not be reached for further comment.

It strikes me that the quote I bolded above is a particularly heartless way of describing the need for layoffs. It also strikes me that, despite founder and President Cindy Moore's lame attempt to obfuscate, what really happened here was an overly ambitious business expansion in the teeth of the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression. But I'm just a nobody blogger sitting on the couch in my basement, so what do I know?