The newly merged organization of PRI and PRX has laid off six employees, according to a statement from a spokesperson Wednesday.
The layoffs amount to a 5 percent reduction in the company’s workforce of 110 employees, according to spokesperson Donna Hardwick. Employees were informed of the changes Tuesday. Hardwick declined to specify which employees were laid off.
“These layoffs represent the majority of planned personnel reductions,” Hardwick said.
“Our goal is to form a company that reflects our complex nation and leverages technology to reach more people,” she said. Any merger involves, ”examining all areas of the organization” and evaluating staffing “based on this new, aligned organization,” Hardwick said.
The organization’s executive team has been evaluating staffing at the merged organization. CEO Kerri Hoffman told Current in August that changes at the organization would affect “everybody in both companies.”
The organization “anticipated layoffs” after the merger, Hoffman said in a statement Wednesday, but “it doesn’t make this decision any easier.”
“For us to be successful, we had to streamline our organization; and, this included changes in almost every area of the company,” Hoffman said. “As we move forward, three of our priority areas include: content within the broadcast and podcast space; strengthening our relationship with public radio stations; and unwavering focus on training, with the idea of creating and fostering a growing community dedicated to the craft, distribution and monetization of podcasts.”
PRI/PRX, which has yet to adopt a new name, announced this month a new training initiative: running a podcast accelerator program for Google that aims to increase diversity in podcasting.