Indian Motorcycle Does The Math, Is Hiring 70 New Employees After Letting Go Of 70 Others

It's not a like-for-like exchange; most of the new positions will be in manufacturing at the brand's home in Spirit Lake, Iowa.

Photo by: Indian Motorcycle

By: Janaki Jitchotvisut

Oct 28, at 7:57pm ET

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As Indian Motorcycle continues to establish its independence from Polaris under its new ownership, its new owners just announced the next phase in its plans.

It's basically a math problem. While the firm has previously0 let go of approximately 70 employees across unspecified divisions, it also wants to stress that it's hiring to fill approximately 60 manufacturing positions at its Spirit Lake, Iowa plant. Additionally, 10 more corporate/administrative roles will be filled, mainly to replace positions that were previously occupied by Polaris employees that remained with Polaris after that company sold Indian off almost a year ago at the time of this writing.

In a way, it's a redistribution of labor to better suit the company's current needs. Current CEO Mike Kennedy said in the statement that

As we stated when we assumed control of the business in February, we are committed to strengthening this business for long-term success with American manufacturing at its foundation. Expanding manufacturing capabilities and jobs in Spirit Lake and building a team dedicated to the needs of this business are critical aspects of our long-term plan.

That said, we are also making some difficult organizational decisions that are reducing some positions. While we recognize the challenges that presents to the individuals impacted, it remains necessary to establishing a more efficient operation that can support sustained profitability and future growth.

I mean, at least on paper, this sounds fairly reasonable. If you're going to make and sell American-made motorcycles, you obviously need to hire skilled employees to make them if you don't have the workforce levels you've determined that you need. The same is true of filling other administrative roles; stuff needs to get done, and there need to be appropriately skilled people to do those things.

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What's a bit more opaque is the nature of the jobs that were cut; the "difficult organizational decisions that are reducing some positions." Further down in the statement, Kennedy also said, "This is an unfortunate and difficult aspect of this process, because these decisions affect people who have contributed to Indian Motorcycle over the years; and we recognize the impact on them and their families. We are incredibly grateful for their work and are committed to treating them with the utmost care and respect throughout this process.”

Those are nice sentiments, to be sure, but nice sentiments don't put food on the table. Here's hoping there were also some nice severance packages for those employees to go along with those nice words.