Communisis begins consultation over 90 jobs

Communisis has started a consultation with staff relating to a redundancy programme that is expected to lead to around 90 job losses.
Chief executive Steve Vaughan told PrintWeek that the reduction, which represents 6% of the company's 1,500-strong workforce, was part of an annual review process and not a "knee-jerk reaction" to the economic downturn."The majority of it is an exercise that we go through at this time of year, every year, because there are parts of our business that are declining year-on-year anyway," he said.However, Vaughan added that around a third of the redundancies were due to declining volumes, particularly in direct mail printing, which is the focus of Communisis' Leeds site."About a third of it is related to reduction in demand, between 30 and 35 of that 90, particularly in direct mail, which we've been talking about in our trading statements for the past few months," he said."We've watched what's been happening in the market in the back four months of 2008 and, based on that, we've taken a measured view that says it's sensible to take some of the excess volume out of the factory."By comparison, Vaughan revealed that Communisis had made around 40 to 50 redundancies this time last year, as a result of the year-on-year decline in a number of business areas."There's a few different parts of the business, of which the cheques is the most obvious," he said."That's business as usual for us, but there's a component that is related to declining demand, particularly in direct mail."