Layoffs, Furloughs And Pay Cuts At Univision

Citing "the worst global recession since World War II," one in which a significant drop in advertising has impacted the company, Univision Tuesday told its staff that it had to take "difficult cost containment actions in order to protect the health of our business moving forward during these unprecedented times."

Forbes reports CEO Vince Sadusky notified employees via email that the company had to undergo restructuring due to the coronavirus pandemic and outlined those "containment actions."

Among them, company-wide layoffs and furloughs - anywhere from one to four weeks and likely longer for people working in the sports division, executive pay cuts and suspension of 401K matching contributions.

When asked about the announced restructuring plans that have rattled staffers, the company issued this statement:

“Despite Univision’s strengths and recent growth momentum, the coronavirus pandemic has caused a significant contraction of business amongst our advertisers that has a direct impact on our business. While we have made every effort to protect jobs during this time, due to these economic circumstances, we have made the difficult decision to take a number of cost containment actions across the company including restructuring our teams and reducing our workforce across all divisions and functions. We believe these actions will help us emerge from this global health crisis in the best and strongest position possible so we can continue to deliver essential, uninterrupted content to our loyal viewers and continue serving the Hispanic community.”In his email, Sadusky also noted the company will renegotiate vendor contracts, delay capital expenditures, and reduce travel for the rest of the year.

He also acknowledged that layoffs are difficult, but necessary and that the company "will be offering employees "enhanced continuation support, including six months of paid COBRA health insurance."

This is the email Sadusky sent out to staff today:





Dear Univision Team,

Thank you for your ongoing efforts in providing important news and entertainment programming to our communities at a time when they need us most and for continuing to connect with our advertisers and distributors. It’s been great to see problem solving and teamwork during the current crisis, despite most of us working from home.

The unfortunate reality is that the broader economic impact from the coronavirus pandemic will be greater than we initially hoped, with banks now estimating the worst global recession since World War II. For Univision, despite our strengths and recent growth momentum, over the past several weeks there has been a significant contraction of business amongst our advertisers that has a direct impact on our business. This shift has made it necessary for us to more closely evaluate our cost structure – like many companies are doing in our industry and beyond.

After careful consideration, we have come to the conclusion that we need to take some difficult cost containment actions in order to protect the health of our business moving forward during these unprecedented times. These decisions were not made lightly and will have an impact on all of us across the company. The actions include:

Temporary Executive Compensation Reduction: Executives will be asked to participate in a temporary pay cut program. HR will be reaching out to the executive team with additional details.

 401(k) Plan Match Suspension – We are suspending the Company matching contribution to the Univision Savings Tax Advantage Retirement Plan (Univision’s 401k Plan) effective May 1, 2020 and through the end of the 2020 calendar year. Employees can continue to make contributions to the Plan. The Company matching contribution under the Plan remains a discretionary contribution. We hope that better times and conditions allow us the opportunity to provide this benefit again. We will review the decision whether to continue our matching contribution in 2021 at the end of this year and will notify participants once a decision has been made.

Other Cost Optimization Efforts: Until the current business environment improves, we have and will continue to hold off on hiring open positions, reduce third party marketing, renegotiate vendor contracts, delay capital expenditures, defer or eliminate non-essential third party spending and reduce travel for the remainder of the year.

Temporary Furlough Program: We are implementing a temporary furlough program where certain employee groups will take unpaid time off ranging from one to four weeks. In addition, because of event cancellations or sports league suspensions, others will be furloughed until operations normalize. Furloughed employees will maintain health benefits through the duration of the furlough period and will be able to apply for unemployment support. Leaders will begin announcing their individual furlough program plans as of tomorrow and through the course of this week.

Company-wide Restructure: Though we have made every effort to protect jobs during this time, due to these economic circumstances, we have made the difficult decision to restructure our teams and reduce our workforce across all divisions and functions. As part of this reduction, some of our friends and dedicated colleagues will unfortunately no longer have a role at the Company. HR, in partnership with our leaders, will begin outreach to impacted employees tomorrow and over the course of this week. As part of the separation process, we will be offering employees enhanced continuation support, including six months of paid COBRA health insurance. I know it is extremely difficult to lose valued employees, but these actions are necessary to allow us to be better positioned to successfully emerge from this global crisis. 

Now more than ever, I appreciate all the work you are doing to continue to inform, entertain and empower our communities. The vast majority of you will continue in your current roles at Univision and help us drive forward. Thank you for your patience and understanding during this difficult time. 

Vince