“Some got them around 8.30am, others around 10.30am. So when some people assumed they were safe, they were suddenly not. It was cruel.”
In her all-staff email this afternoon – leaked to Media Insider – O’Donnell said: “As I’ve shared, tomorrow we’ll begin stage two of our strategic change consultation process.
“All meeting invitations have been sent to TVNZers proposed to be impacted. In advance of these meetings, I wanted to share some information with you to give you further context around the changes we’re proposing to make.
“We’re committed to running a transparent process and I would like to share with you the proposed TVNZ-wide impact of what is being presented tomorrow:
Proposed disestablished roles 90.5
Proposed new roles 41
Proposed net role reduction 49.5.
“The proposals include proposed disestablished roles, proposed role reduction, proposed reporting line changes and proposed job title changes,” O’Donnell said. “We’re asking for feedback and no decisions will be made until after all feedback has been considered.”
Only two years ago, TVNZ had about 730 staff. Its latest annual report shows 600 staff – if these latest proposals are confirmed, that number will come down to about 550.
In response to the description of the “cruel” different timings of email invitations today, a TVNZ spokeswoman said: “Jodi emailed all TVNZers yesterday to provide an update on timings for the consultation.
“This email clearly stated that all meeting invitations would be sent prior to 11am. This is what happened.”
She confirmed the proposed headcount reduction of 49.5 roles.
“The proposed headcount reduction is not intended to deliver the full $30m target.
“We will also need to manage content costs, operational costs and deliver new revenue-generating activities to reach this. That work has been happening in tandem.”
She said TVNZ had budgeted for redundancies. “We expect strong feedback from TVNZers on the proposals. The confirmed number of disestablished roles and the total cost of any redundancies will be known at the end of the consultation process.”
Earlier, a source said proposals might include new titles, a reporting line change or, in the worst-case scenario, job losses.
“This will knock the wind out of people,” said the source, who predicted big changes across almost every business unit.
The source suggested TVNZ would be striving for comprehensive changes to avoid going through a similar exercise in another few months.
“They are going to try to avoid death by a thousand cuts.”
The source suggested the proposals to be unveiled this week would cover the majority of the $30m that TVNZ has said it needs to find either through cost cuts or increased revenue. The broadcaster announced an earnings before interest and taxes loss of $28.5m for its financial year ended June 30, 2024.
E tū union negotiation specialist Michael Wood confirmed to Media Insider earlier today that a reasonable number of people had received emails, but the union would not know the scope of the proposals until tomorrow.
He did not know at that stage how many jobs might be proposed to be cut. “The headline number on the table [$30m] is extremely significant. We strongly urge TVNZ to take a longer-term strategic approach to that.”
Staff members were also concerned at indications the broadcaster might outsource some roles, with the loss of institutional knowledge and experience.
Another source said camera operators were among staff who have received emails today. A third source said some staff had been called into group meetings.
Of strong public interest will be how TVNZ plans to continue to operate its news website, 1news.co.nz
As Media Insider reported in September and October, the state broadcaster had originally been planning to axe the website – it has since backed down on that proposal, saying it now plans to retain it in some form.
That will have given digital staff some hope but how many will be retained to produce and maintain written stories, video and audio content for the website remains to be seen.
TVNZ clearly still sees its digital streaming platform TVNZ+ as the future home for its digital news endeavours.
TVNZ has moved carefully through this latest phase of restructuring, following its botched employment processes as it axed the Fair Go and Sunday shows and dozens of other roles earlier this year.
The latest changes come as TVNZ embarks on a five-year digital-first transformation, while also addressing the existing tough economic conditions affecting the media sector.
That has also been the backdrop to cutbacks this year at almost every major media organisation, including NZME, Stuff and MediaWorks, and the complete loss of Warner Bros Discovery’s news operation, Newshub.
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
