Sharesies plans to cut jobs as recession approaches

Sharesies, the online stock trading platform, plans to cut jobs as recession approaches.

The company said in a statement on Thursday that it has begun consultation with its employees about a proposal to restructure the business and reduce the number of employees.

The proposed changes follow a recession plan put in place last year to help weather the global economic downturn, which included cutting marketing costs, suspending hiring and diversifying revenue streams, board chairwoman Alison Gray said.

“With the uncertain economic outlook expected to continue for some time, we need to ensure that the business remains strong and sustainable and that the Sharesies platform is flexible and efficient,” said Gary.

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He said the outcome of the proposed restructuring was expected to be confirmed next month and the number of people affected would be known after the consultation was completed.

The economy is expected to enter a recession this year due to interest rate hikes by the central bank to combat high inflation. This week’s report showed that the unemployment rate rose from 3.3 percent to 3.4 percent in the last three months of last year.

Last week, Anbar Group, one of the country’s biggest retailers, told staff it planned to cut 190 jobs at its Auckland support offices in response to “challenging market conditions” after weaker trading in its key Christmas period. .

MediaWorks, which owns about half of the nation’s commercial radio stations, said it plans to cut up to 90 jobs in an effort to cut costs. Chief executive Cam Wallace told staff that two-thirds of the company’s costs are labor-related, and the impact of inflationary pressures and a possible recession this year means costs must be cut.

Economists say that announcements by larger companies are sometimes a signal of more general events, because the country is dominated by small businesses and few jobs are lost, leaving hundreds or thousands of small businesses in the news.

An abundance of data is now a sign of weakness. Job adverts, seen as a key indicator of the future, have started to fall, while business surveys by the NZ Institute of Economic Research and ANZ show that companies are now looking to cut jobs, not add.

New Zealand is not the only country where companies are cutting workforces after the pandemic as the economic outlook weakens.

Last month, music streaming service Spotify announced it was cutting 6 percent of its global workforce, or about 600 jobs. Chief Executive Officer Daniel Eck told employees that the number of employees had to be reduced in order to increase the company’s expenses.

This followed announcements by other major tech companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google to cut tens of thousands of jobs as the industry’s economic boom slowed during the Covid-19 pandemic.