From pay cuts to job losses: How the industry can, and should, respond to a pandemic
All across the media, marketing and advertising industry, steps are being taken to protect businesses’ bottom lines as the COVID-19 crisis rolls on. But what are the legal implications? What do companies owe employees, and what do employees have to say ‘yes’ to? Mumbrella’s Brittney Rigby examines what companies can do, have done, and should be doing to protect both their businesses and teams.
Pay cuts. Reduced hours. Forced leave, paid or unpaid. Standing people down. Redundancies. These are among the measures companies across the industry are implementing, or at the very least looking to implement, as they attempt to weather the severe revenue impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
And beyond the bottom line, the broader repercussions of COVID-19 are visually arresting: The charts showing the infection curve shooting steeply uphill should we fail to flatten it. The climbing numbers of those who are sick, those who have died, and those whose incomes have been hit. And the stretching, tightly-packed queues outside Centrelink offices; people cannot afford to worry about social distancing in a clotted line for social security.
Inevitably, employers are turning to legal mechanisms to reduce costs, and salaries are a big, if not the biggest, chunk to shrink. But people are working from home, isolated from colleagues and support networks, which means a lost job or reduced hours will be even more difficult to recover from.
Great piece guys
My current mate working for a billionaire is working as a manager and has been asked to take a pay cut of half, HALF. How is that right, his employer has possibly millions of dollars at his disposal and can well afford to pay his full wage yet is asking his employers to keep their jobs by taking a wage cut of half. Something is wrong here when the rich are exploiting the workers to save themselves money.
Would be good to see Mumbrella not only write about publisher impacts and senior agency figures departing. There are huge waves of redundancies going on across the agency groups at mid and junior levels, yet not a peep from the trade press?
Media agencies in large holding groups have made significant redundancies in the last week. Very sad and quick.
I wonder if any will re-hire given the Job Keeper payment?
I wouldn’t think so. Those redundancies were probably planned for a while, this just presented an opportunity to pull the trigger sooner. I don’t hear of a lot of really smart media people being made redundant right now outside some in middle management.
Any reason no reporting on Nine bringing forward cuts? $266 mill this year? No payment of commissions or bonus to staff?
Hi Hugh,
We reported on Nine bringing its cost cutting measures forward a few days ago:
https://staging.mumbrella.com.au/nine-plans-to-deliver-200m-in-cost-savings-in-2020-623028
Thanks,
Vivienne – Mumbrella
Smart
Media
People
Hi Brittney,
How can I please get in touch with you about my unique situation which I obviously don’t want to post here?
Thanks.
Hi ‘Confused’,
You can reach Brittney at brittney@mumbrella.com.au.
I’ll let her know to look out for your email.
Thanks,
Vivienne – Mumbrella
(vivienne@mumbrella.com.au)
My agency has just enforced a 20% pay cut (for everyone, apparently). No new contracts and no cut in hours (we’ve not actually lost clients, we’re just being forced to take the hit for future growth plans not now able to be fulfilled). Plus it’s been backdated so work we’ve already carried out will have effectively been for free.
To make up my shortfall in income I am desperately looking for freelance work. I’d love to know if legally I still have to work my contracted hours for the agency and then have to freelance in my free time, given I’ve been forced into this situation?
Hi Emma,
Sorry to hear about your situation. We’ve had lots of similar scenarios come though, so next week I will try to organise a Q&A with some experts to address some of these concerns and queries.
Feel free to contact me at vivienne@mumbrella.com.au, otherwise, keep an eye on the site for more information – hopefully next week.
Thanks,
Vivienne – Mumbrella
Appreciate the weekend reply! Will keep an eye out for the Q and A.
Same senario here, my employer is taking all government free money to small businesses plus closing millionaire contracts but yet we were force to take 15% pay cut during this pandemic. Mind you, the owner is a millionaire and has no financial issues, his company stands strong during this pandemic. The way we all see it, he is taking advantage of the workers, is it illegal since he is taking government money and all?