Finnish Broadcasting Company offers severance deals to those resigning voluntarily

Mikael Jungner

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The Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) is trying to cut its expenditure by offering monetary compensation to any worker who leaves the company voluntarily.
      On Thursday, a package was offered to YLE workers, in which those leaving the public broadcaster on their own initiative would receive a compensation equal to their salary during a normal period of notice. Those leaving the company would not be replaced by hiring anyone from outside.
      The offer stands until the end of next year.
      This latest move signals the beginning of the final stage of the economic belt-tightening measures introduced in 2002. YLE hopes to save around EUR seven million in its payroll expenditure. This translates to 150-160 man-years in costs of labour, and it is not thought feasible without some cuts in staffing.
     
Whether the current YLE CEO Mikael Jungner is allowed to keep his job or not depends largely on the success of these economic measures, it is believed.
      Jungner has promised to balance the company’s finances by the end of the year 2008. When the present economic measures were introduced back in 2002, YLE’s losses were in the region of EUR 100 million. In other words, the company’s expenses exceeded revenue by a quarter. At the end of last year, the shortfall was around EUR 20 million.
     
In recent weeks, conversation with almost any Finnish politician has quickly turned to Jungner and how long he will be allowed to keep his position.
      Doubt and suspicions concerning his ability to run the public broadcaster increased significantly this spring, when the YLE leadership distinguished themselves by severely hampering the national change-over from analogue to digital broadcasting by issuing contradictory statements.
      Last week’s resignation of Seppo Härkönen, the deputy chief executive of YLE, certainly did not do Jungner any favours, either.
      Essentially Jungner’s fate now lies in his success in balancing YLE’s economy by the end of 2008.
      If enough volunteers will leave the firm, and YLE succeeds in the rest of the ongoing economic measures as well, Jungner may well be allowed to keep his position until the end of his term in 2010.


Links:
  YLE, The Finnish Broadcasting Company

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