James Harding’s Times memo on job cuts

Earlier today Times editor James Harding emailed his staff to inform them of deep cuts and job losses at The Times. Here is the memo in full:

Dear Colleagues,

As you may be aware we met today with colleagues at Times House to discuss the steps we are taking in the coming weeks to put The Times’ budget on a sustainable footing.

Times Newspapers Limited is losing a significant amount of money. Today, we are starting a process to cut costs, reduce our losses and free up resources for the future of our journalism. We are looking to reduce our editorial budget by approximately ten per cent.

This is a time to be enormously proud of the journalism of The Times. We have produced papers over the course of this election that have been rigorously reported, ingeniously illustrated and powerfully presented. Our coverage of the contest has been fair and forceful. And we have shown online that we are changing rapidly as a news organisation. We are harnessing the imagination and innovation of the people who have joined Times Online, building on the skills and expertise of The Times newsroom, and we are developing digital journalism that brims with authority and mischief, judgment and flair.

However, we need to take these steps to reduce our budget now, for the following reasons:

First, our losses are unsustainable. We cannot ensure the long-term future of this paper and our futures in journalism if we cannot make a viable business out of The Times.

Second, we are clearly in a period of galloping technological change and we need to ensure that we have the resources to invest so that we can lead the market in digital journalism.

Starting today, we will begin a voluntary redundancy process, which will be open for applications during the next two weeks, up to and including Thursday, May 27. In addition to the numbers that come forward, we may have to consider compulsory redundancies. Until we know the exact number of people who will be leaving voluntarily we will not know what the number of compulsory redundancies might be. While a voluntary redundancy programme will slightly extend the period of uncertainty, I hope that in these difficult times it will create some opportunities for people who choose to leave our business.

I will come back to you to let you know the outcome of the first stage of this process. We will be talking to all departments about other forms of cost savings.

You will shortly be receiving an email from Anoushka Healy, managing editor. This email will detail the next steps for those interested in the voluntary redundancy programme.

We will all be sorry to see respected colleagues and good friends leaving the paper. I hope that the changes we are announcing today can ensure that The Times moves to a sustainable commercial footing and that we can thereby secure the long-term future of the paper and our journalism.

Yours,

James