Ten reduces staff hours as it navigates ‘unchartered waters’ of COVID-19
Ten is the latest media owner to change its staffing arrangements in a bid to reduce the financial impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus).
Staff at Ten will move to nine-day fortnights on 20 April, with the measure to last through until the end of June. Employee leave balances can supplement the 10th day, otherwise the day will be unpaid.
Ten is reducing staff hours
The new measures do not affect staff of Ten’s publishing platform 10 Daily, or those working at News, Studio 10, The Project or broadcast operations and engineering.
Ten also said there is increased flexibility for those wanting to temporarily move to part-time arrangements or split shifts.
Ten’s chief content officer and executive vice president for Viacom CBS in Australia and New Zealand, Beverley McGarvey, said COVID-19 has caused extensive and fast-moving change in the broadcast industry.
“Despite more viewers turning to television for the latest news, information and entertainment that we provide, our business has been directly impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. It has clearly affected our day-to-day operations, at least temporarily,” she said.
McGarvey said the suite of measures should minimise the damage done to its workforce, both temporarily and longer-term.
“We are focused on positioning the business for resilience and growth as the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic start to ease,” she said.
She thanked staff for their ongoing hard work, support and commitment as the company travels through “unchartered waters” [sic].
Various other media companies have taken similar measures in recent days, with Ten’s rival Seven moving to four-day weeks (and thus implementing 20% pay cuts).
“Uncharted” waters, maybe?
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Hi Navigator,
Thank God you’re here!
You are, of course, correct. This quote, however, was lifted directly from Beverley’s email to staff, hence the quote marks around it. I’ll find a way to make this clearer in the text.
Thanks for flagging,
Vivienne – Mumbrella
She may be referring to waters where charter boats are not permitted to venture, the so-called “unchartered waters”
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I wonder if this explains why 10play has been broken for the last 3 days?
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Hi Nathan,
Have you tried updating your app to the newest version? Also, try a speed test on your internet connection. It’s working fine for me.
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