The Globe and Mail is asking its employees to take unpaid time off again this summer, over and above the annual allotment, in an effort to “balance the company’s season revenue/cost.”          

The Globe and Mail is asking its employees to take unpaid time off again this summer, over and above the annual allotment, in an effort to “balance the company’s season revenue/cost.”          

In a memo distributed in February, staff was told the voluntary “Flexible Time Away” program is “designed to support work/life balance” and can be taken for a maximum of 13 weeks between June and August 2013.

Last summer*, publisher Phillip Crawley also told employees to take furloughs to avoid cutting staff jobs. The Globe reduced its staffing costs by roughly 10 per cent.

“The difference is that it was mandatory last year,” union chair Sue Andrew told J-source. “They [the management] haven’t given us any info about targets or savings they would like to see this time around.”

Applications for the flexible time away program are due on March 31.

*Disclosure: Tamara Baluja, the writer of this article, was an employee of The Globe and took unpaid leave last summer.