Telstra advertising and directories division Sensis has axed another 80 jobs including marketing roles, in what is the latest in a string of cuts at the ailing unit.
The decision to lay off the 80 staff is the third tranche of job cuts this year, and comes less than a week after the company axed 23 back-office roles.
Sensis is struggling to transition its exposure to the ailing physical Yellow Pages directories, into more resilient digital assets.
Part of that drive included shifting the Sensis Digital Media arm across to Telstra and developing the new Telstra Advertising Network.
The latest round of cuts include staff across marketing, finance, human resources and IT.
A Sensis spokesman confirmed it but did not comment on whether there would be more cuts or business unit restructures according to reports.
He added that staff affected would be given the chance to seek redeployment and job placement assistance.
Last month Sensis sales director Mark Shaw exited the company after overseeing the transition to TAN in his role as interim sales director there.
Earlier in the year CEO Bruce Akehurst (pictured) announced a new strategy which will see the company focus on becoming a digital services provider.
Miro Sandev – 17 November 2011
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2 comments
Yellow pages comes wrapped and goes in the bin at the end of the year still wrapped. Yellow Pages online? What for? White Pages online? Why? Google delivers everything. Sensis digital services – same story. Sensis has a history of arriving late to the circus when it has already left town. Sad to see such a huge opportunity be missed by mismanagement and arrogance. What did Sol say “Google schmoogle”. The attitude of misunderstanding exactly where the game is being played persists.John Sheridan Posted 16 November 2011 17:42
John, couldn’t agree any more. Sadly for Sensis the party is over. It took too long for Sensis to realise the emphasis should have been on user/customer experience as opposed to how much they could extract from the small businesses that carry this country. Yet they continue to push online to limited markets at exhorbitant rates. I’m not sure if Yellow Pages noticed but Google Places is free, and yes Yellow Pages supply this data but they don’t control it. I have several clients that now have zero reliance on Sensis (Yellow Pages) for their marketing spend. It’s all online. Website and Blog. All Google friendly.
Karl Morris Posted 17 November 2011 15:22
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bandt.com.au/news/sensis-axes-another-80-jobs
Er John, Greg Ellis (formerly Sensis, now REA I think) said Google Schmoogle at a Sensis leadership summit a good six or seven years before Sol even heard where Australia was. Greg had Sensis on the right course, unfortunately he left, Sol and the brigade from the heady days of the 70’s when directories were king came along and set them back 10 years. And the Telstra board, including Bruce, let it happen.