Today EDR has announced and will begin implementing a reorganizational plan which has been developed over the past few months. This plan is a direct response to the decline in real estate transactions we have witnessed since the credit crunch began in August 2007. As I have mentioned in earlier blog posts, and despite the benefit of a growing customer base of environmental professionals, the volume of monthly transactions in the marketplace has declined by 8 percent. This reorganizational plan has several elements to it which I will now attempt to outline.

Twenty seven positions across the company have been eliminated causing layoffs. However, 7 of these people have been offered new positions within EDR and all will have a few days to consider their new offer. I expect that once their decisions have been made, the net number of layoffs will be between 20 and 22. To put this into some perspective, EDR's employee base has grown by 30 people since February 2007. These layoffs will reduce this to about 10 to 12 new positions created since last year.

This reorganization plan will also include a restructuring of our outside sales team. Since the 1990's, EDR's field sales team has been organized by geography with each sales person having an assigned territory. Going forward, we will shift to a new sales model that is organized not by geographical boundaries but instead by customers. Sales professionals will now be assigned specific customers for which they will be responsible. The goal of this new sales model is to better align EDR personnel with our clients businesses in order to develop stronger individual relationships and mutually beneficial partnerships.

In addition to the downsizing and reorganization on the employment side, a new operating plan will also be implemented for the remainder of this fiscal year. This new operating plan calls for cost reductions in areas including advertising, promotions and events and will reduce total operating expenses to a level similar to last year.

As you might imagine, a situation like this is difficult for everyone involved, most especially those people who have been laid off. I wish each person the best of luck as they begin seeking new employment and career opportunities and offer a "thank you" for their contribution to EDR's success over the years.

Going forward I believe that EDR's employment and operating plan is now aligned with the current state of the real estate markets. Since 1998 we have enjoyed a commercial real estate market that has been in near constant expansion. This changed virtually overnight last August and the ripple effects are still evident. My hope is that this period of contraction will be shallow and short lived and that our markets will begin expanding again later this year.