RNZ is offering staff voluntary redundancy as part of sweeping cost-cutting measures following a $4.6 million funding cut in Budget 2025.
In an internal letter to staff, Chief Executive and Editor-in-Chief Paul Thompson said the public broadcaster needed to “spend less to ensure we remain financially strong” and deliver on RNZ’s strategy and Charter commitments.
“We won’t be able to do everything we do now,” Thompson said. “This will inevitably mean change to how we operate and work.”
RNZ’s board has approved a high-level budget for 2025-26, and initial savings of $4 million will begin from 1 July. These include cuts to external commissioning, marketing, discretionary spending, a reduction in capital expenditure, and scrapping a proposed healthcare benefit and one-off staff payments.
There will also be an internal push to reduce annual leave balances.
“These are sensible first steps to balance our budget,” Thompson said. “They ensure RNZ can continue to deliver on the strategy of building trust with audiences, digital acceleration and being a public media cornerstone.”
However, he warned that more savings would be needed in the next 12 months.
“Our costs never sit still,” Thompson said. “We will be taking a deeper dive into our plans with the aim to make more savings. To aid this, we will take further thinking to the August board meeting.”
He said RNZ welcomed ideas from staff to help guide the process. “Again, we welcome ideas from kaimahi as we tackle this work. These should be given to your leader or exec team member.”
The voluntary redundancy scheme is open to all permanent staff, and applications close Friday 4 July. Thompson said the process was confidential and “entirely voluntary,” with no expectation that people apply.
“For some colleagues, the option of voluntary redundancy may suit their circumstances and allow flexibility if they are considering leaving RNZ for whatever reason,” he said.
“It provides an opportunity for colleagues who may wish to move on to other things at a time when we are introducing new technology and capabilities and very different ways of working.”
Thompson said each application would be “individually assessed” to ensure essential knowledge, skills and experience are retained across critical areas. Not everyone who applies will be accepted.
“The Executive team will collectively evaluate these requests to assess their organisational implications,” he said.
Outcomes will be communicated by 15 July.
Thompson acknowledged the changes may cause uncertainty and urged staff to speak with their managers if they have concerns.
“I know there is a lot to consider in this message and it’s natural to have questions or feel unsettled,” he said. “Any discussion around leaving an organisation, even if this is voluntary, is unsettling.”
He reminded staff of the organisation’s Employee Assistance Programme.
“Thank you for your continued commitment as we go through this challenging time together.”
