Guardian Media Group will cut 250 jobs, including 100 positions within the 725-employee editorial department. The company will also restructure in an attempt to break even within three years.
The other 150 jobs will come from commercial departments, support functions such as finance and human resources and other parts of the business, according to the Guardian website. GMG’s global headcount of 1,960 understood has grown by 479 since the last round of cuts in 2012. The 210 people employed outside the UK are not expected to be affected by the latest round of layoffs.
Editor-in-chief Katharine Viner and chief executive David Pemsel said in an email to staffers that the “volatile media environment” had led to an “urgent need for radical action.”
“Our plan of action has one goal: to secure the journalistic integrity and financial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity,” the memo said.
The execs hope the cuts will all be voluntary and that compulsory redundancies would only be considered only “if necessary.”
A spokeswoman for the company said there are no plans to close the Observer, the Guardian’s Sunday sister title.
In addition, the company will no longer attempt to turn the Midland Goods Shed, a former train depot, into a large events space.
“We are encouraged by the fact the company is seeking voluntary redundancies and is looking to mitigate potential job losses by finding other cost-cutting measures,” Guardian father of the chapel for the National Union of Journalists Brian Williams said.
Voluntary redundancy terms are scheduled to be agreed with unions in the coming weeks.