Throughout 2019, we continued to implement initiatives to better align our management structure and decision making process in conjunction with the Company's operating model. As such, we reduced our management workforce by approximately 540 employees in 2019.

On October 23, 2018, we announced the elimination of one operating region and five service units as part of a broader effort to more closely align operating resources with the Company’s long term strategic initiatives. This resulted in the reduction of approximately 330 management employees in the fourth quarter of 2018. In addition, approximately 140 agreement positions were reduced as part of ongoing initiatives.

On August 16, 2017, the Company approved and commenced a management and administrative personnel reorganization plan (the “Plan”) furthering its on-going efforts to increase efficiency and more effectively align Company resources. The Plan implemented productivity initiatives identified during a Company-wide organizational review that included the reduction of approximately 460 management positions and 250 agreement positions during the third and fourth quarters of 2017.

These workforce reductions resulted in pretax charges recognized within compensation and benefits expense and other income in our Consolidated Statements of Income. The charges consisted of management employee termination benefits, including pension expenses, severance costs, and acceleration of equity compensation expense as shown in the following table:



Millions
for the Years Ended December 31,		2019		2018		2017
Compensation and benefits expense
Severance	$	22	$	23	$	12
Equity compensation		2		2		5
Other income
Pension		-		-		69
Total expense	$	24	$	25	$	86

The 2017 workforce reduction plan included an enhanced pension benefit which resulted in a curtailment loss of $20 million and a special termination benefit of $49 million as a result of a remeasurement as of September 30, 2017. In accordance with ASU 2017-07, both of these charges were recorded within other income.