Boeing Co. will start sending out pink slips on Wednesday to employees affected by a planned round of job cuts, a delicate balancing act between improving efficiency and keeping together a skilled workforce to help lift output again.

CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took over in August, told staff in a memo last month that the job cuts would include executives, managers and employees. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg took over the aerospace company in August. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images ...

The approximately 17,000 employees included in the cuts were notified this week and are expected to leave the company in mid-January, Boeing said. The cuts, which come after a labor union strike, equate to 10% of its workforce.

Boeing said on Wednesday that it will start giving notice of layoffs to workers impacted by its larger plan to cut 17,000 positions, or about 10%, from its workforce worldwide this week. According to federal law,