Friday, October 24, 2008

Corporate buyouts: How generous is the offer?

[Buyouts available here: Corporate headquarters at McLean, Va.]

Under the new offer Gannett disclosed yesterday, are Corporate employees being offered either of these packages?
  • One week's pay for every year of service, plus medical benefits, capped at 52 weeks -- the severance given to 600 newspaper workers laid off in August?
  • Two weeks' pay, and medical benefits -- but no cap, as was the case at USA Today and some other worksites?
The offer came in a reader-posted memo from Chief Financial Officer Gracia Martore, who said only: "We are offering a voluntary severance program to some employees in certain Corporate departments who are age 55 or older and have a minimum of 10 years of credited service. Eligible employees are receiving detailed information about the offer now."

Corporate staff: What can you tell us? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

6 comments:

  1. I heard Gracia this morning, and she said layoffs at corporate AND PUBLISHING. So there will be more, but where. God knows, we are already skating on thin ice thanks to the layoffs we have already seen. TV must be breathing easy, but more in publishing?

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  2. How can a company with centralized HR get by with offering different buyout provisions at different sites? Has anyone challenged that?

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  3. The dirty little secret about corporate is that there has always been an us and them. They get a different and more generous buyout than we get. Don't like that? Take it to your boss.

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  4. "Don't like that? Take it to your boss."

    Who will take it to corporate. It's the Circle of Life.

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  5. No wait. I'm talking about the different buyout packages offered at the sites. The provisions varied widely, didn't they. My point is this: Gannett is calling the shots, not the sites. That means it's a corporate-directed buyout, and the provisions should be the same for everyone, wouldn't you agree. I hope the people who challenged this will share their experiences.

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  6. Some sites have guilds. That factors in quite a bit.

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