Gannett is implementing another round of unpaid furloughs for its employees, the company announced on Monday. It is unclear whether the News Leader in Staunton, a Gannett-owned newspaper, will be affected by the new round of furloughs. Leader employees had to take a weeklong unpaid furlough in the first quarter as part of a companywide cost-cutting measure.
The second round of furloughs at Gannett, based in McLean, will occur throughout the second quarter of the fiscal year, according to a company memo sent to employees on Monday.
“We are about to begin the second quarter without any real relief in sight from this unprecedented economic downturn and its challenge to our company,” Gannett chief executive Craig Dubow wrote in a staff memo. “Despite all of your truly remarkable efforts to reverse the trend, our revenue numbers continue their downward slide and we have been faced with more difficult decisions.”
Dubow also had to take an unpaid week off in the first quarter. He and others among Gannett’s highest-paid employees, those making more than $90,000 a year, will be required to relinquish up to two weeks pay in the second quarter.
The first-quarter furloughs saved the company about $20 million.
– Story by Chris Graham