ST. LOUIS — Edward Jones employees began receiving layoff notices on Monday as the company moves forward with a workforce reduction first announced in March.

The layoffs, which are taking place this week, affect Edward Jones associates across the United States and Canada, including at the company’s headquarters in Des Peres, Missouri.

Catherine Stengel, spokesperson for Edward Jones, said in a statement the firm is committed to “communicating early and transparently with our colleagues throughout the process and take decisions that impact our colleagues very seriously and strive to make them according to our core values.”

“Our top priority remains supporting our colleagues and serving our clients,” she said.

The layoffs are affecting employees of Edward Jones’ “home office,” which provides support to financial advisers in the field. The home office is based in St. Louis, though home office employees work across the United States and Canada.

There were more than 9,000 home office associates as of June 27, according to regulatory filings. The company claimed 5,476 workers in the St. Louis area as of last year.

It did not on Monday say how many employees were being laid off.

Its network of more than 20,000 financial advisers, as well as branch teams, weren’t affected by the cuts.

Edward Jones announced planned reductions in March but didn’t provide the number of employees affected by the cuts, their job categories or a timeline for the cuts.

The initiative, Stengel said at the time, would “strengthen our collaborative, client-first mindset and alignment with our firm goals.”

“This multi-year initiative will help the firm deliver exceptional experiences to our clients, colleagues and communities, and ensure we continue to attract and retain talent as an employer of choice for financial advisors and home office associates,” she said in a statement.

In March, analysts said Edward Jones was looking to catch up with its competitors by investing in new technology, essentially replacing workers at its headquarters here.

Investment experts said Edward Jones has been behind the curve for years but that the multi-year initiative that will reduce the size of its home office signaled that the firm is working to catch up and modernize.

In March, Edward Jones managing partner Penny Pennington told trade publication ThinkAdvisor the firm doesn’t have a specific goal in mind for how many employees will be cut. She emphasized Edward Jones will not get rid of the St. Louis home office as things change.

“Internally, this is a time when folks with a growth mindset can step up and say, ‘I’ve seen where we’ve built up a little bit too much bureaucracy, where decision making has been a little too slow,’” Pennington said. “Folks with that mindset are stepping up and sharing their ideas about how we can all improve the organization.”

Pennington said at the time that the initiative aimed to reduce bureaucracy and invest in technology — including AI — to make adviser support services more efficient.

The Jones Financial Cos., the parent company of Edward Jones, reported a pretax profit of $471 million for the quarter ending June 27, about the same as the same period last year.

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