Restructuring

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Restructuring and Related Activities [Abstract]

During the first quarter of 2020 and 2019, management approved strategic reductions of the existing global workforce, which resulted in restructuring charges of $29 million and $78 million, respectively. The approved strategic reduction in 2020 is part of a multiphase process to reorganize our workforce concurrently with the redesign of our operating structure, which we expect will span multiple quarters. We primarily incurred employee severance and benefits costs under the 2020 strategic reduction, as well as other associated consultancy costs. This strategic reduction is expected to be substantially completed by the end of 2020. The approved strategic reductions for 2019 were intended to better align our teams to support key business priorities and included the transfer of certain operational functions between geographies, as well as the impact of the transition servicing activities provided to Synchrony, which ended in the second quarter of 2019. We primarily incurred employee severance and benefits expenses under the 2019 strategic reductions, which were substantially completed by the end of the first quarter of 2020.

The following table summarizes the restructuring reserve activity during the three months ended March 31, 2020:



	Employee Severance and Benefits and Other Associated Costs
	(In millions)
Accrued liability as of January 1, 2020	$	9
Charges	29
Payments	(5		)
Accrued liability as of March 31, 2020	$	33