Diana Marszalek 05 Jun 2020 // 5:21PM GMT
NEW YORK — Zeno has confirmed it is laying off 25 members of its global team, becoming the latest in a string of agencies reducing staff due to the financial impact of Covid-19.
The layoffs affect less than 5% of Zeno’s roughly 500-person staff, according to the agency. The agency would not specify the nature of the layoffs and whether they impact different levels of employees.
“Earlier this week we put into action a plan to re-set Zeno to meet the challenges of the current business environment and prepare for the months ahead,” CEO Barby Siegel said in a statement.
“We initiated a series of cost-saving steps, including a global headcount reduction of less than 5%, select furloughs and seeking temporary salary reductions for our senior managers and leadership. These and various cost-cutting measures over the last several months enable us to keep job loss to a minimum while maintaining existing high levels of client service.
"Saying good-bye to members of our Zeno family is difficult and emotional, but we are committed to supporting them during this time with various resources and one-on-one services, including financial counseling and well-being assistance,” she said.
Zeno would not specify how many people are affected by the furloughs. When asked about salary reduction specifics Siegel said, “Temporary salary reductions differ by level and were handled on a market by market basis. All members of the Global Leadership Team have also agreed to a temporary salary reduction.”
The layoffs at Zeno coincide with staff reductions earlier this week at Edelman, whose parent company, Daniel J. Edelman Holdings, owns Zeno. That firm is cutting its staff by 390 people, and on staff at VP level and above to take pay reductions between 5-20%.
It also mirrors other actions agencies have had to take as companies scale back their marketing spends. IPG agencies including Weber Shandwick and Golin have let staff go over recent weeks. Omnicom also making significant job cuts across their PR agencies, and MSL has made redundancies as well.