USA Today forcing all of its workers to take 1 week of unpaid leave to help save money

USA Today mandates staff furloughs to save money

McLEAN, Va. — USA Today is forcing its staff to take an unpaid week off to help the nation’s second largest newspaper cope with a persisting ad slump.

The newspaper’s nearly 1,500 employees must take a one-week furlough between Feb. 28 and July 3, USA Today spokesman Ed Cassidy said Thursday.

Most USA Today workers had to take two weeks of unpaid leave last year as part of a plan mandated by the newspaper’s owner, Gannett Co.

The company, based in McLean, had previously announced it expected to impose furloughs on a more limited basis this year. Gannett owns more than 80 daily newspapers.

Like most major newspaper publishers, Gannett has been hard hit by three consecutive years of falling ad revenue. That has triggered wage reductions, layoffs and furloughs because newspapers make most of their money from ads.

Although the ad slide has decelerated in recent months, Gannett and other newspaper publishers have already indicated the erosion is likely to continue through at least the first half of this year.

Ad revenue at Gannett’s newspapers and magazines plunged by nearly $1.2 billion, or 28 percent, last year. Besides triggering furloughs, last year’s deep drop prompted Gannett to cut 1,400 jobs, or about 3 percent of its work force.

USA Today’s sales of its printed edition also have been crumbling. Its daily circulation in the six months that ended in September averaged 1.9 million, a 17 percent drop from the previous year that knocked it from its position as the top-selling newspaper. The Wall Street Journal, owned by News Corp., grabbed those bragging rights with a daily circulation of 2.02 million.