Fed-up Nine staff openly attacked their bosses on internal chat channels as the media chain’s top executives went on holiday following the announcement of 200 job cuts.
After confirming that the axe would fall on hundreds of employees of the television and newspaper empire, chief executive Mike Sneesby immediately flew to Greece for a family holiday.
Nine chief executive Tory Maguire told staff she would also be heading to a sun lounger and flying to Fiji after the Midwinter Ball in Canberra on Wednesday.
But the crass holiday plans have sparked a social media uproar on the company’s internal Slack channel, it has emerged.
And when details of the job cuts were posted on Slack outlining the terms of the layoffs, staff criticised the announcement with emojis of the Greek and Fijian flags.
The background document was published this week, along with a message giving further information on voluntary redundancies and “next steps” with managers over the next fortnight.
But angry employees bombarded the booth with national flags as well as ironic emojis of high-fives, thumbs up and sideways glances, The Australian reported.
This comes weeks after Sneesby announced the job cuts last month as part of a $30 million cost-cutting plan for the company.
After confirming that the axe would fall on hundreds of employees of the television and newspaper empire, chief executive Mike Sneesby immediately flew to Greece for a family holiday.
Nine has announced 200 job losses as it looks to cut $30 million from its business.
“Of our national team of almost 5,000 people, around 200 jobs are expected to be impacted across Nine, including some vacant and casual roles that will not be filled,” Sneesby said.
“For us to continue to invest in digital growth opportunities at Nine, we must continue to responsibly manage costs throughout the cycle.”
The job cuts include 38 positions across the high-profile news and current affairs broadcast team, which included 9News and 60 Minutes.
In addition, 90 jobs will be cut from Nine’s editorial division, affecting roles at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review.
Nine staff were reportedly surprised by an email informing them of the job cuts, which represented four per cent of the company’s workforce.
When he made the announcement last week, he blamed declining advertising sales for the job losses.
It is understood that his annual leave had been planned before the cuts.
The announcements follow the departure of news chief Darren Wick in March after a female employee made a complaint about inappropriate conduct.
Her replacement, Fiona Dear, told staff the job cuts would mean a “loss of 38 posts in the division, 12 of which are already vacant”.
Maguire, editorial director of Nine, which runs The Australian Financial Review, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times and WAtoday, said the end of the Meta deal had also affected the editorial side of the business.
“This week… the agreement with Meta ended and the significant revenues from that agreement ceased,” he said.
‘While we are encouraged by our constructive discussions with the Federal Government on the implementation of the code, the only thing that is certain at present is that we do not have an agreement in place with Meta.
Tory Maguire, who told staff she was going on holiday to the South Pacific, attended the Midwinter Ball on Wednesday night.
The announcements follow the departure of news chief Darren Wick in March after a female employee made a complaint about inappropriate conduct.
‘The advertising market remains very challenging and while the publishing and sales teams are working together on a variety of new initiatives, our FY25 outlook reflects the market outlook.’
A new collective bargaining agreement is still being negotiated after the current one expired on Sunday.
The new deal is believed to cost the chain significantly more money in staff salaries.
The company’s troubles have weighed on Nine Entertainment’s share price, which fell to $1.37 at the close on Monday, representing a loss of more than 32 percent over the past six months.
