As Layoffs Mount, Ted Williams May Have Most Job Security in America

Jobs, jobs, jobs — they remain a topic utmost on Americans' minds as the slowly dropping unemployment rate largely belies the reality of a U.S. labor market that is only slowly picking up momentum. Brand executives know this, and more of them have taken to wielding job creation as a branding device, like Subway.

But corporate strategy sometimes dictates a different turn even when eliminating jobs is the last thing a brand wants to do. Among the big brands announcing layoffs in recent days: Novartis, which is restructuring its U.S. business and cutting 1,960 positions; Goldman Sachs, which laid off 2,400 employees last year with more to come; Citigroup, which is shedding about 5,000 jobs globally; Kraft, which announced that it will cut 1,600 North American jobs as it prepares to split into two companies. All eyes are on Kodak, too, as the company prepares to restructure.

Kraft — which made headlines with one high-profile hire in the past year: golden-voiced homeless-to-Hollywood phenom Ted Williams, at top — is now shedding ballast in order to survive a difficult future, where its strategy is to split into a global snack company and a North American grocery operation later this year.

"When we announced our decision to create two world-class comapines last August, we said both would be leaner, more competitive organizations," Kraft Chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld said in a statement. So, among other things, Kraft will close its management center in Glenview, Ill., and move some administrative operations to the Chicago area.

All Subway is talking about these days is expansion rather than retrenchment. By opening an additional 2,500 outlets worldwide this year, the chain expects to add another 25,000 full- and part-time positions at its restaurants, an extraordinary achievement at a time of contraction for many QSR chains -- and as many American consumers remain cautious about going out even for an inexpensive meal.

Those totals would be on top of Subway's creation of about 24,000 jobs last year, as it opened more than 2,400 restaurants worldwide. "It's clear that we continue to work on staying ahead of the curve as we continue to grow," said Don Fertman, Subway's chief development officer, in a company statement.

Indeed, Subway recently has been named the top-ranked restaurant brand in Entrepreneur magazine's annual Franchise 500 listings and No. 1 in Zagat's ranking of fast-food brands for being most popular, having top service and providing the best "healthy options." And Subway ended 2011 with the most positive consumer buzz of any big brand, according to YouGov BrandIndex — the second consecutive year Subway copped that honor.

Subway brand executives have figured out that eliminating "food deserts" across America is also a good and brand-worthy thing to do, so they're highlighting a Subway franchise that operates on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota as one of the few places in the area where residents can get fresh vegetables.

Somehow, we can expect Subway to become leaders in this area as well.