"Yediot Ahronot" Group has signed a voluntary retirement agreement with its workers’ committee for 60 of the 430 journalists at the daily newspaper, the financial daily “Calcalist,” the women’s magazine “La’isha,” and the website Xnet to retire. The agreement includes bonuses for those who choose to leave, in two rounds of voluntary retirement, one of which will commence immediately, and the second of which will take place at the beginning of next year, when the group is scheduled to move from its historic location on Mozes Street in Tel Aviv, to its new location on Mozes Street in west Rishon Lezion. The move is expected to begin at the end of this year.
The upcoming layoff process is not only because of the move to Rishon Lezion, but also the new economic climate in which the media now operate, particularly the print media.
To streamline and adapt Israel’s leading publishing group to the future, it was decided at "Yediot Ahronot" Group to move all its branches to a single, shared building in Rishon Lezion. All the group’s journalists, including the magazines, the local newspapers, and all digital operations, including the website Ynet, will move to the new location, along with marketing and administration personnel.
The idea of the move is to consolidate resources and jobs, journalistic and otherwise, to focus manpower on a few areas in the group, and to strengthen partnership between the group’s branches. For example, the group is considering consolidating its pool of photographers to serve a few of the group’s branches.
Sources inform “Globes” that many workers have approached management asking to be part of the first round of voluntary retirement, which is to include 20 workers.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 1, 2015
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