The leaner, meaner workforce of Time Inc.: More jobs cut

Time Inc. has cut 289 jobs, with 172 whacked from editorial operations (you know, the people who report, write and present the stories).

Time loses about 40 jobs. People will close bureaus in Washington; Miami; Chicago; and Austin, Texas, where about 20 people work. Sports Illustrated loses about two dozen employees.

In December 2005, the company cut 105 staffers, many of them high-ranking executives. February 2006: about 100 cuts. April: about 105 cuts. December: 27 people whacked in marketing. Teen People was shuttered in July. Eighteen magazine titles were put up for sale. In less than a year, Time Inc. has cut its workforce from 12,000 to about 10,500.

Says Time Inc. editor-in-chief John Huey in a memo to employees:

Let me stress that these layoffs are not about performance of the individuals involved; the layoffs are about the restructuring of our editorial staffs as we move quickly into a future of flexible, multiplatform content creation. That means redesigning and rethinking much of what we do to ensure we are as efficient as possible. In some cases, that requires reassigning responsibilities among staffers. And unfortunately, in some cases that requires a leaner workforce.

• “… move quickly into a future of flexible, multiplatform content creation.” What does that mean? How quickly will it happen? Is there a plan to follow, beyond cutting expenses to maintain a profit level?

• “… requires reassigning responsibilities among staffers …” Does than mean the remaining staffers, who have already had “responsibilities reassigned” during previous job cuts get more work to do? Will they be paid more?

• “… content creation …” Will the down-sized and right-sized Time Inc. be able to gather and disseminate content readers, viewers and browsers will be willing to pay for?

Inquiring minds want to know …

Advertisement