SDA: Job freeze and frozen wages
The economic problems in the media companies are having an impact on the national news agency SDA. The agency is expecting a considerable drop in income and a deficit for 2010. For this reason, it will have to review its performance mandate and adapt it to the new economic circumstances.
The economic problems in the media houses are having an impact on the national news agency SDA. According to a press release issued on Wednesday, the agency is expecting a considerable drop in income and a deficit for 2010. For this reason, it will have to review its performance mandate and adapt it to the new economic circumstances. The Board of Directors has issued a corresponding mandate to the management, which must be implemented by the end of 2011.
The disappearance of free newspapers, the continuing decline in circulation, the problems at SRG and the concentration in the media landscape have significantly worsened the general conditions for SDA. Nevertheless, the agency expects a satisfactory result for 2009. However, the outlook for the coming years is much worse. In order to secure the company and thus the national news agency in the long term, SDA cannot avoid reviewing its existing service mandate and its products. The resulting new structure of the agency and its services should better reflect the various sub-markets in Switzerland.
Immediate measures taken
This structural adjustment will take some time and cannot be implemented without personnel measures. However, it is not yet clear to what extent jobs will have to be cut by the end of 2010. However, in order to keep the situation in balance as early as 2009, the management has taken certain immediate measures, such as a job freeze and a freeze on salaries.
The management is in talks with the personnel organization about how the medium-term measures can best be implemented. SDA intends to adhere to the principle of a national, regionally anchored full-service agency. The new performance mandate will continue to be based on these premises, but will differ from the current performance mandate in terms of the equivalence of language services and the depth of reporting.
Despite the difficult conditions, SDA will stick to the strategy adopted by the Board of Directors. This means that it will also offer customers new services as quickly as possible.
The disappearance of free newspapers, the continuing decline in circulation, the problems at SRG and the concentration in the media landscape have significantly worsened the general conditions for SDA. Nevertheless, the agency expects a satisfactory result for 2009. However, the outlook for the coming years is much worse. In order to secure the company and thus the national news agency in the long term, SDA cannot avoid reviewing its existing service mandate and its products. The resulting new structure of the agency and its services should better reflect the various sub-markets in Switzerland.
Immediate measures taken
This structural adjustment will take some time and cannot be implemented without personnel measures. However, it is not yet clear to what extent jobs will have to be cut by the end of 2010. However, in order to keep the situation in balance as early as 2009, the management has taken certain immediate measures, such as a job freeze and a freeze on salaries.
The management is in talks with the personnel organization about how the medium-term measures can best be implemented. SDA intends to adhere to the principle of a national, regionally anchored full-service agency. The new performance mandate will continue to be based on these premises, but will differ from the current performance mandate in terms of the equivalence of language services and the depth of reporting.
Despite the difficult conditions, SDA will stick to the strategy adopted by the Board of Directors. This means that it will also offer customers new services as quickly as possible.
