After a year of layoffs and shutting editions, Times Group announces bonuses

Asserting that it was leaving the “Covid storm behind”, the Times Group on Tuesday announced bonuses for all its employees.

After a year dotted with dozens of layoffs and downsizing of editions, including Mumbai Mirror and Pune Mirror, Sivakumar Sundaram, who is chairman of the media house’s executive committee, emailed employees that with the economy recovering the media house was witnessing resurgence of “the power of print”.

Sundaram announced a payout of 100 percent of the ‘target variable pay’ to all its employees who will be on the rolls of the company as on April 30, 2021. A ‘special performance incentive pay’, part of the employees’ salary, will also be paid every month from April 2021 to March 2022.

Through the pandemic, Sundaram claimed, the Times Group “seamlessly” transitioned to a “hybrid workplace”. “The past one year has been one of the most challenging and disruptive years for the world of business. It not only impacted us, but also our advertisers, readers and partners. As for us, it called for an organisational transformation and we seamlessly transitioned to a hybrid workplace which none of us had envisioned,” he wrote. “As the economy recovers, we continue to see the resurgence of ‘The Power of Print’ and the sustainability of a print organisation which is agile and fit for the future.”

The announcement comes days after the Times of India laid off staffers in Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu, continuing a pattern which started soon after the pandemic hit and has seen Times Group employees sacked in Nagpur, Goa, Delhi as well.