Why Heineken is Cutting 7% of its Workforce

Heineken has announced it is cutting 6,000 jobs – or around 7% of its workforce – across 2026 and 2027, after lowering its forecasts for profit growth. 

In its full year results, the company revealed total sales fell 1.2% in 2025, and it has put plans in place to “unlock significant savings” of approximately US$500m by reducing its headcount. 

These cuts are likely to come from both brewery closures and reductions in white-collar roles due to AI increasing company productivity. 

Discussing this strategy in the company’s latest earnings report, published 11 February, CEO Dolf van den Brink says: “Our first priority is to accelerate growth, funded by stepped up productivity and operating model changes that will involve a significant cost intervention over the next two years. This will unlock stronger people productivity and enable greater speed and efficiency.”

Heineken’s leadership shake-up

In January 2026, Heineken shared that Dolf would be stepping down as CEO in May 2026, following a significant drop in beer sales. 

Announcing his resignation, Dolf said: “After six years as CEO and more than 28 years at Heineken, I believe this is the right moment to transition leadership as the company prepares for the next phase of the EverGreen strategy. 

“The past years have been marked by significant change as Heineken progressed through its transformation and has now reached a stage where a transition in leadership will best serve the company in further executing its long-term ambitions. 

“Over the coming months, I remain fully focused on disciplined execution of our strategy and to ensure a smooth transition.”

After leaving the CEO position, Dolf will remain part of the company in an advisory capacity, in order to ease the leadership transition.

Heineken is yet to name a replacement for Dolf, but in a statement announcing his departure, the Board indicated it would be looking both internally and externally at prospective candidates. 

Russ Mould, Investment Research Director at broker AJ Bell, said of the company’s CEO succession: “Whoever becomes Heineken’s new CEO will walk into the top job with many difficult decisions having already been made. 

“There is no news on who will replace Dolf van den Brink when he leaves in May, but the pressure is on to find a new leader fast, and one who can breathe new life into the beer giant.”

EverGreen 2030 strategy

These cuts follow a period of decreased revenue for Heineken, with research showing people are drinking less. 

Drinkaware found that 49% of UK adults in the UK are choosing no or low alcohol options, and Gallup research shows just 62% of young people drink alcohol, compared to 72% in 2001-2003.

To combat this, Heineken has developed its EverGreen 2030 strategy, designed to make the organisation more agile and competitive. 

This includes replacing more than 60 separate HR systems with one overarching platform to provide a more consistent experience, implementing AI to facilitate internal mobility by mapping employee skills and training up its leaders to be “daring and caring” to create a culture of high performance. 

In a company statement, Dolf said this strategy has been created as the company is “fundamentally transforming our business to stay ahead in an increasingly volatile geopolitical and economic landscape”. 

He continues: “EverGreen 2030 is further sharpening HEINEKEN's growth strategy, allowing us to confidently navigate consumer shifts and capturing structural growth opportunities through its advantaged global footprint, leadership in growth segments and its power brands.”