StoryCorps lays off nine employees 

StoryCorps laid off nine employees Tuesday, CEO Sandra Clark told Current in an email. 

The layoffs were part of a “larger cost-saving plan to balance revenue with expenses and enter 2025 and beyond on stronger financial footing,” she said. Employees affected at the Brooklyn, N.Y.–based organization were “across departments, levels, and classifications,” Clark said. 

Clark said that the organization had made cuts in an attempt to avoid layoffs, including a 10% salary reduction for executives beginning in the third quarter of the year, a hiring freeze with the exception of “essential” roles, reducing staff travel expenses, dropping “nonessential contractors” and pausing its internship program.

The organization employed 140 people in 2022, according to its most recent IRS 990 filing. The filing showed expenses of more than $250,000 above $14 million in revenue.

“While StoryCorps has experienced remarkable growth and impact over the past few years, with record fundraising for initiatives, support for general operations has not kept pace as expenses for core activities and functions have continued to rise,” Clark said. 

Clark called the layoffs a “last resort” and “the best path forward for StoryCorps as we position the organization for long-term financial success and sustainability. We believe StoryCorps’ mission to help people believe in each other by illuminating humanity and possibility is needed more than ever and we will continue to invest in our public service.”

Moira Bulloch, senior campaign communications coordinator for the Communications Workers of America, which represents employees in the StoryCorps union, confirmed that five union members were laid off, including a shop steward, “without prior notice to the union-represented employees or the Union.” 

“Rather than engage in good faith discussions as outlined in the union contract, management opted to suddenly lock members out of their StoryCorps accounts without providing a reason or an opportunity for discussion,” Bulloch said. “Some workers did not even realize they had been laid off until hours later.”

Bulloch called the decision to lay off a shop steward retaliation. 

“The shop steward is an outspoken advocate for improving working conditions, but also an incredible producer with no disciplinary marks and excellent performance throughout his time at StoryCorps,” Bulloch said.

“The Union is demanding that management not move forward with the layoffs and instead negotiate in good faith, and refrain from retaliating against union leaders,” Bulloch said.

In a follow-up email to Current, Clark said that the layoffs “took place in complete accordance with the collective bargaining agreement.” She said the agreement allows for management to give notice of layoffs or to pay affected employees if notice isn’t given. 

“StoryCorps paid Union employees for 45 days in lieu of notice, in addition to severance calculated for years of service and medical coverage stipulated in their benefits package,” Clark said. 

When asked about the allegation that laying off a shop steward amounted to retaliation, Clark said that “decisions on the layoffs were carefully made giving primary consideration for StoryCorps’ business needs to continue as a viable organization.”

She acknowledged a delay in notifying two staffers about their being laid off, “but both received a personal call and had a discussion with Human Resources by end of day Tuesday,” she said. 

This story has been updated to include comments from Bulloch and Clark’s response.