Sharesies plans to reduce jobs
Sharesies, the online share trading platform, plans to cut jobs as a recession looms.
The company said in a statement on Thursday that it has begun consulting with its staff on a proposal to restructure the business and reduce the number of employees.
Chairperson Alison Gerry said the proposed changes follow a recession plan put in place last year to help navigate the global economic downturn, which included reducing marketing spending, putting hiring on hold and diversifying revenue streams.
‘‘With the uncertain economic outlook projected to continue for some time, we need to ensure the business remains strong and sustainable, and that the Sharesies platform is compliant and efficient,’’ Gerry said.
The outcome of the proposed restructure was expected to be confirmed over the next month, and the number of people impacted would be determined after the consultation had been completed, she said.
The economy is expected to slip into recession this year as the Reserve Bank hikes interest rates to combat high inflation.
A report this week showed the unemployment rate edged up to 3.4% in the final three months of last year, from 3.3%.
Last week, The Warehouse Group, one of the country’s largest retailers, told staff it plans to cut 190 jobs at its Auckland support offices as it responds to ‘‘challenging market conditions’’ after weaker trading during its key Christmas period.
MediaWorks, which owns about half the country’s commercial radio stations, said it intended cutting up to 90 jobs in an effort to trim costs. Chief executive Cam Wallace told staff about two-thirds of the company’s costs were labour related and the impact of inflationary pressures and a likely recession this year meant costs must be reduced.
Economists say announcements by larger companies are sometimes a signal of what’s going on more generally, as the country is dominated by small businesses and a couple of jobs disappearing from hundreds or thousands of small businesses is not going to end up in the news.
A slew of data is already signalling weakness. Job advertisements, seen as a key indicator for what’s to come, have started to decline, while business opinion
surveys by the NZ Institute of Economic Research and ANZ show firms are now looking to cut, rather than add, jobs.
New Zealand isn’t the only country where companies are downsizing their workforces after the pandemic as the economic outlook weakens.
Last month, music streaming service Spotify announced it was cutting 6% of its global workforce, or about 600 jobs. Chief executive Daniel Ek told staff that employee numbers needed to be reduced to bring the company’s costs more in line.
That followed announcements from other big tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Google for tens of thousands of job cuts as the economic boom that the industry rode during the Covid-19 pandemic waned.