Globe lays off 30

Thirty Globe and Mail employees have been laid off, after the company’s effort to entice workers to take voluntary buyouts didn’t produce the staff cuts necessary to combat revenue declines.

According to a Toronto Star report, 14 of the employees let go were from the newsroom (many from the photo and graphics department) and the rest were from the circulation and advertising departments. The Star reports that no reporters were laid off.

In mid-January Globe publisher Phillip Crawley sent a memo to all employees announcing that the company planned to cut 80-90 jobs and was first looking for people to accept voluntary severance packages before moving on to layoffs.

Crawley told the Canadian Press that 60 Globe staffers took packages. He said:

“I think a lot of people who had been here for a number of years, getting older and closer to ‘normal’ retirement age … looked at this (new package) and thought the opportunity might not come their way for a number of years.”

Crawley hopes this series of layoffs will be enough to get through the year. He added:

“A lot of that will depend on how well the market performs and how well business performs over the next many months. This isn’t the only factor that affects our financial performance, but I think it certainly makes a good contribution towards our goals.”