The suffering economy has pushed Lenovo, a global PC company with a US base in Research Triangle Park, to lay off about 250 employees locally. Its biggest layoff action since the company bought IBM's PC business in 2005.

Lenovo will lay off about 2,500 employees worldwide. That's 11 percent of its total workforce. Last night Lenovo Heads sent out an email to all employees stating company layoffs start today. Some weren't surprised.

"Everybody has been a little bit nervous this was not unexpected the action Lenovo is taking and we're all dealing with it on a day to day basis," said Jerry Delaney from the Global Logistics Department.

The economic turmoil has given Lenovo a hard hit. Company reps say their quarterly profit shrank 78 percent in September. They say no positions were exempt, the layoffs include management and executive positions.

"I'm angrier at the people in congress that helped formulate this, by practices they put in place that precipitated so much of the loan problem that have caused this whole thing to crash down around us," said Gregory Brewer from the Global Supply Chain Department.

Lenovo currently has about 650 employees at RTP. A company spokesman says the layoffs are not performance based.

"For the individuals affected by this we will treat them with the utmost respect it is always difficult to go through these, but this is a necessary action to ensure the long term health of the company," said Lenovo spokesman, Ray Gorman.

As Lenovo lay off workers worldwide, it's also closing down the Toronto-based call center and opening it back up at RTP. So, as Lenovo lays off 250 workers, It'll hire 150 locally for it's new call center.

The hires will be in sales and tech support. Those getting laid off will have 2 week to 60 days notice.

Lenovo said it expects to save about $300 million dollars by the end of March of 2010.