Job cuts proposed at TV3’s Newshub and TVNZ noon and slow newsand the loss of Sunday and fair gois it possible for an employer to successfully “make” staff reductions?
News of the layoff plans broke in completely different ways in each newsroom, and each had a huge impact on employees.
Susan Hornsby Gerke, a top lawyer specializing in employment issues, talks about the impact of this crisis. saturday morningSusie Ferguson.
She says it was “wrong” for Warner Bros. Discovery to give Newshub employees just a few hours’ warning about a meeting that would have shut down the newsroom.
On the morning of February 28, employees were sent an email invitation to attend a 1:00 p.m. meeting that could affect their work.
At the meeting, staff were informed of a proposed “reshuffle and reorganization” that would halt all news production from June 30. More than 200 jobs will be cut.
Newshub employees spoke saturday morning “I could see the color draining from everyone’s faces” when the invitations arrived, said a person on condition of anonymity.
“It was obviously bad, very bad.”
According to employees, after the meeting, employees were walking around in a daze.
“How do people act when the rug is pulled out from them like that?”
Hornsby-Gerke said. saturday morning She was concerned about how the layoff negotiations were being conducted.
“this [employee] “She was completely shocked…and that just goes to show how wrong and inappropriate it was because they had no idea what the purpose of the meeting was,” she said.
Ideally, employers should notify employees at least one day in advance of such meetings, she said.
We also needed to provide more details about the content of the meeting.
“Ideally, you would want to give employees at least 24 hours’ notice before the meeting and say, ‘Look, we need to make an important business decision that may impact the employee’s role. We’ll discuss this. We should have said, ‘We’re going to have a briefing tomorrow for you.'” So at least people aren’t coming in completely cold and hearing this for the first time completely unannounced. ”
Mr Hornsby-Gelke compared Warner Bros. Discovery’s handling of the situation to TVNZ’s announcement of job cuts just a week later.
On March 7, the state broadcaster announced its intention to cut 68 people, or 9 percent of its total staff, and discontinue the following programs: Sunday, fair go And the daytime news.
Mr Hornsby-Gerke said TVNZ gave employees 24 hours’ notice before the redundancy meeting and laid the groundwork for discussions well in advance.
“TVNZ had announced the week before that it had incurred significant losses over the past six months and had been talking for two months about the need to cut costs and cut staff. In the Newshub situation, such It seems like there was a lot less.” suddenly appeared and announced the closure of the entire newsroom.
“It is much better for employers and affected staff to know this is going to happen in advance.”
However, Hornsby-Gelke said it was not ideal that news of the impending layoffs leaked to other media before the meeting.
“Employees should never know that others are not affected, but the fact that this was reported in the media and spread two days ago is truly unfortunate.”
In such cases, it is not always possible to bring forward scheduled meetings, she said.
Employers need to be responsive and responsive throughout the downsizing process, she says, but “there really hasn’t been a good way to break news like that.”
A Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson said in a statement that the company remains focused on its employees.
“We will not comment while the consultation process is ongoing.”
TVNZ has also been contacted for comment.