The ABC will cut 20% of management positions and lose 200 staff by June, in what the managing director, Michelle Guthrie, calls a tough strategy to bring transformational change to the national broadcaster.
The job losses will start immediately in support areas in the TV news and television divisions, and move on to content areas later in the year.
The executive team will be reduced from 14 to eight and powerful new overarching roles have been created for former Nova executive Louise Higgins and current ABC executives Samantha Liston and Leisa Bacon.
ABC News 24 (@ABCNews24)"My commitment is to a leaner, less cumbersome management structure that minimizes costs," Michelle Guthrie as 150-200 staff to go by EOFY pic.twitter.com/7WhYXzNdJe
March 7, 2017
Citing “red tape”, “duplication” and “over-management”, Guthrie told staff in a national address on Tuesday that they had to break down the silos between news, radio, TV and digital, and work together to create content audiences wanted.
“We lack the flexibility to quickly adjust to the fast-changing audience trends,” Guthrie said. “Our reach on television and radio is declining and digital is struggling to bridge the divide.
“We have significant audience gaps: socially, culturally and geographically. This means we’re falling short of properly and effectively representing, in our employees, content and audience impact, the modern Australia in which we live.”
Guthrie said the “tough decisions” would hurt the people affected but would deliver in the long term.
“The savings will go directly into content creation,” she said. “We aim to reduce management roles by 20% across the corporation, with support areas to bear a heavier percentage of this cut.
“I’ve asked my leadership team to begin work immediately on identifying how this will be accomplished.
“This afternoon, we’ll be implementing additional efficiency measures in production and support in ABC TV and ABC News. This is part of ongoing work to meet efficiency targets, reduce fixed costs and free up additional funds.
“It’s expected that across these separate activities – reducing management, eliminating duplication and achieving production and support efficiencies – between 150 and 200 staff will leave the ABC by the end of this financial year.”
Four current members of the 14-strong executive have been dropped from the main table, including editorial director Alan Sunderland, corporate affairs director Michael Millett, director of legal Rob Simpson and director of commercial Robert Patterson. They will however retain their jobs.
Higgins has been appointed chief financial officer and Liston, a former head of human resources, has been elevated to director of engagement, audiences and technology, a role which will see her control the new “content fund” which will build to $50m.
Guthrie has appointed David Anderson, a corporate strategist who has worked at the ABC for 25 years, to the role of director of television.
The ABC will recruit for a chief technology officer, a role which will be taken by David Pendleton until he leaves in June.
“My commitment is to a leaner, less cumbersome management structure that minimises costs, provides a more effective, streamlined service in support areas and facilitates quicker decision-making,” Guthrie said.
“To drive the transformation, there’ll be a smaller leadership team. We’ve replaced the previous 14 divisions with a new structure involving nine key teams, with a more appropriate balance between content and support.”
Guthrie has been in the job since May last year when Mark Scott stepped down after 10 years at the helm. She is the first female managing director of the ABC and came to the job with no experience in content making or public broadcasting.
Since her arrival four members of the executive team have resigned including David Pendleton, digital director Angela Clark, international director Lynley Marshall and director of television Richard Finlayson.
Guthrie told staff she would welcome ideas for programming the 6pm to 7pm TV time slot.
“For example, I’d love a creative solution that gives us a strong lead-in to the all-important 7pm ABC News program,” she told a packed room at Ultimo.
Guthrie said an additional $15m a year would be spent on targeting audiences in regional and rural Australia and within 18 months 80 new jobs would be created.
“We want to ensure that the stories, issues and interests of the one-third of Australians who live outside the capital cities are well-represented across the gamut of ABC services and have a stronger voice in national conversations,” she said.
A new $50m content fund created by cuts to middle management would allow the ABC to “respond with flexibility and speed to shifting audience trends”, Guthrie said.
Audiences who are infrequent ABC users would be a focus.
The ABC board issued a statement of support for Guthrie’s vision, saying it had been involved in the planning over the past 10 months.
“The change program over the next 12 months will transform the corporation,” the statement said. “Importantly, it provides content makers with the flexibility and resources they need to address audience and technological changes that are sweeping through the media sector.
“The new structure also strengthens the corporation, with its emphasis on operational efficiency, reduced management layers and the creation of a new audiences division to align ABC programming and content strategy with audience tastes and trends.”
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