18 July 2008
Qantas leaked memo: 1,500 jobs to go
Airline industry facing "greatest crisis in aviation history".
Australia's national airline, Qantas, today announced 1,500 redundancies and other cost-cutting measures, as the airline battles the "greatest crisis in aviation industry".
In a statement to investors Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon said the cuts would be made through various measures, including voluntary redundancies, early retirements and accelerated leave programs.
Labelled 'pure speculation' by a Qantas spokesperson, the prediction now appears to have been only just short of the mark.
In addition, "Qantas would not implement its budgeted growth in flying for 2008/09 and would cancel plans to hire a further 1,200 people for that growth."
Leaked memo
The redundancy program will be completed by December, Dixon said.
The announcement of job cuts was predicted by analysts some 48 hours before being made official, following a leaked internal email that reached The Age newspaper on Wednesday.
Labelled "pure speculation" by a Qantas spokesperson, the prediction now appears to have been only just short of the mark.
Planning layoff communication
To help with preparing managers to announce layoffs to the organization, Aniko Czinege (pictured), author of Melcrum's latest report Communicating during economic downturn urges communicators to:
- Coach leaders and managers on how to be more approachable and respond positively to questions.
- Prepare leadership to communicate consistent core messages.
- Agree on a consistent leadership response to challenges and issues.
Further hints and tips on coaching managers to boost morale during an economic downturn are included in the special report.
Have your say
Are you in the airline industry and facing difficult times as a communicator, or just concerned as an airline employee? How will you be preparing for looming job cuts announcements at your organization?
Discuss these issues with other comms practitioners by joining the Internal Comms Hub members' group on the Communicators' Network.
Other recommendations:
Melcrum report: Communicating during economic downturn
Email bites into Qantas flights
Starbucks to lay off 12,000 workers
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