Shell’s CEO Ben van Beurden has declared that the company needs a “simpler, more streamlined, more competitive organization that is more nimble and able to respond to customers,”. According to the company’s website, Shell currently employs about 80,000 people in over 70 countries. The company’s announced job cuts would represent between around 8.75 percent and around 11.25 percent of its overall employment number. In addition, he has added: “I know I, and many others in Shell, will be saying goodbye to people we know well and really like and who have great loyalty to the company. But we are doing this because we have to, because it is the right thing to do for the future of the company,”.