ABC Radio middle management still in the dark about job cuts

It’s been over two weeks since ABC Managing Director Michelle Guthrie publicly announced wide ranging staff cuts within the ranks of the government broadcaster.

Ms Guthrie flagged that up to 200 jobs, mainly in middle management, would go. However it is still unclear exactly who is in the firing line.

Classed as upper or senior management, Head of ABC Radio, Michael Mason’s position is safe but he admits that the spectre of job cuts is not an ideal climate for staff morale, “It unquestionably creates a level of uncertainty and a degree of concern for people. What we’ll do is work through the changes as quickly and methodically as possible to ensure people know where they stand as soon as we can.”

It remains unclear how many of the 200 jobs to go will go from radio, “We are yet to finalise in any discussion about of what that means in terms of numbers on radio just yet but until we do we cant put a figure on it soon,” says Mr Mason.

Management insists that the job cuts are not budget cuts but rather about efficiencies and redeploying resources into other areas, “There’s always areas that you want to look to see what you can improve to make it easier to run the business. And if we can do that, the payoff is that the money doesn’t go back to the government it comes back into content making. That’s unprecedented in the ABC”, says Mr Mason.

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