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Liana Dubois, former chief marketing officer at Nine<\/p>\n
The year of high-profile cuts<\/p>\n
This year alone has brought a noticeable rise in redundancy headlines. At Westpac, more than 30 staff in its in-house media division<\/a> were let go, ANZ announced 3,500 job cuts<\/a> last month including the closure of Cashrewards, and just yesterday, we learnt about Endeavour Group\u2019s $16 million in restructuring costs<\/a>. This company-wide restructure suggests many roles have been impacted, including GM of marketing, creative and operations, Katie Dally.<\/p>\n In agencyland, the Clemenger Group merger of Chep Network, Traffik, and Clemenger BBDO saw a number of C-suite departures<\/a>, client losses resulted in changes at DDB Group <\/a>and M+C Saatchi<\/a>, and Edelman let go of major senior staffers<\/a>, including chief client officer Amber Scotto Di Perta.<\/p>\n Across media owners, SCA cut 8% of its 1,700-strong workforce<\/a>, Foxtel and ARN both made mass redundancies<\/a>, and the ABC\u2019s restructure under new MD Hugh Marks began with around 50 redundancies and contract terminations<\/a>.<\/p>\n Subsequent statements from the companies were littered with corporate jargon \u2014 \u201cstreamlining\u201d, \u201cevolving operating models\u201d, \u201caligning with strategy\u201d. For those on the receiving end, the language was cold comfort.<\/p>\n \u201cRedundancy can make you feel isolated and question your value,\u201d former Hall & Partners MD, Ed Steiner, says bluntly. \u201cIt challenges you in many ways and can tear you away instantly from such an important facet of your life that you feel connected to, and is part of who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n Ed Steiner, former managing director at Hall & Partners<\/p>\n The term itself, some argue, is part of the problem. Scotto Di Perta says at its core, the word \u201csuggests being useless or superfluous \u2014 a definition that rarely reflects reality\u201d. More often than not, a redundancy says more about the condition of a business than the capability of the individual, she argues.<\/p>\n Her concern is particularly relevant as organisations \u201cactively strip out\u201d their most experienced talent. She asks: \u201cWhy are we saddling these professionals with a label that is debasing, negative, and simply wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n Despite knowing her redundancy was coming as a result of the business closing, Cashrewards\u2019 CMO Zara Cobb says she still questioned her value.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it actually happened, and you hear the words, there\u2019s this immediate sense of shame, that somehow I did something wrong for this to happen. It doesn\u2019t matter if I knew for months, or I knew 10 minutes before the meeting, I don\u2019t think that would change the gut reaction.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd as a senior leader, I think I needed to come out and say I\u2019ve really struggled with this, I\u2019ve had to work on it and make my peace with it, so that more junior members of the team or people who might have this come up in the future know that they\u2019re not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n The hidden costs of redundancy<\/p>\n The consequences extend far beyond individual careers.\u00a0When senior leaders depart, institutional knowledge departs with them. Long-standing client relationships are severed. Strategic plans are paused or abandoned. Entire creative directions are lost.<\/p>\n This is the \u201chidden cost\u201d of redundancy, says Josh Slighting, former head of product at REA Group: \u201cThese changes come with unintended consequences, from cultural shocks to exposed leadership gaps, leaving those who remain navigating an uncertain new normal.\u201d<\/p>\n If redundancies are now part of the industry\u2019s DNA, the question becomes: how should companies and leaders respond?<\/p>\n Dubois is clear: \u201cIt\u2019s a signal we need to rethink not just cost structures and operating models, but how we value, sustain and grow business and the talent within it for the long-term.\u201d<\/p>\n Dally echoes her point, with a reminder that although redundancy doesn\u2019t discriminate, the way the industry responds, can.<\/p>\n \u201cAs businesses continue to face economic and technological uncertainty, many senior marketing and agency leaders will experience redundancy at some point in their career, often more than once,\u201d she says. \u201cThe industry has an opportunity to rewrite the narrative and demonstrate real leadership: valuing talent not just as a cost to be managed, but as a core asset to drive sustainable business growth.\u201d<\/p>\n Katie Dally, former GM of marketing, creative and operations at Endeavour Group<\/p>\n The hidden costs continue with the market realities making it difficult for many to find work again. According to Jane King, former head of marketing communications at Cartology, this is worsened by recruiters becoming \u201cpickier and pickier\u201d.<\/p>\n Having experienced her first redundancy in her 25-year career, King says she was shocked, hurt and numb. But what really knocked her confidence was the competition.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time I would meet with a head hunter they would rattle off at least 5 other senior marketers, with very similar experience who were in a similar position. The competition was getting tighter and the market, pickier and pickier. If you didn\u2019t have the 10\/10 skills, plus you were the top 1%, then you didn\u2019t receive anything,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cI lost count of the number of times I was ghosted or received no reply and most of these were for roles with personal recommendations. The system is broken and I think many companies are very blinkered in their approach for hiring, so many of them want to hire mirror images of their existing employees.\u201d<\/p>\n Is there a bright side?<\/p>\n If there\u2019s a silver lining, it\u2019s that the prevalence of redundancies has softened the stigma.<\/p>\n \u201cWith it now so widespread, stigma has largely disappeared. It is no longer a mark against performance but rather a reflection of shifting priorities,\u201d Slighting says.<\/p>\n Andrew May, former chief growth officer at V2foods, frames it as both \u201ca cliff\u2019s edge\u201d and \u201ca doorway\u201d. While some people manage it well and others sense it coming, many are blindsided.<\/p>\n Andrew May, former chief growth officer at V2foods<\/p>\n \u201cThey feel shock, anger, even shame. Redundancy drags out emotions we would rather bury, but these are expected reactions when we are faced with sudden uncertainty,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cThe hardest part is not the change itself, it is the story we tell ourselves about what it means. The biggest myth is that redundancy equals failure. It doesn\u2019t. It is proof that the ground shifted, not that you weren\u2019t good enough. What matters is whether you stay stuck in that story, or write the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n From an executive search or recruitment point of view, redundancy is not viewed as a negative signal if the candidate can clearly articulate the business context, according to Johnson Partners\u2019 Kate Ferguson.<\/p>\n \u201cRedundancy is rarely about individual performance at this level; it is often driven by business strategy, cost optimisation, or capability shifts,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat matters is how the executive has responded. I encourage candidates to reframe their narrative from \u2018this happened to me\u2019 to \u2018this is what I did next to create value\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Reflecting on her own redundancy last year, former Seven West Media CMO Mel Hopkins recalls the mix of emotions: \u201cIt was done quite swiftly and quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cI very much took it as an opportunity to take time out and really rethink what was important to me, and that has been incredibly important. There was so much pressure I was putting on myself, and others were putting on me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n For her, being open and honest about her journey was paramount: \u201cI wanted to break the stigma down because in this industry we are front and centre of marketing ourselves as leaders as well. It took me months to realise that actually my ego was so dented because I\u2019d attached so much to how I was perceived and validated by the industry, and not in a negative shallow way because I care about my industry, but when it came crashing down, there is not a lot of that same support.\u201d<\/p>\n Mel Hopkins, former chief marketing officer at Seven<\/p>\n What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n Some leaders, like Sean Hall, who took a chance on a chief of staff role a few months ago only to be made redundant this week, are using this time to embrace reinvention. Sharing his experience publicly on Linkedin, he says the response was \u201camazing and surprising\u201d, with complete strangers offering to connect him.<\/p>\n Networks, like Hall\u2019s Linkedin community, are actively helping people through the turbulence. It\u2019s a brutal environment, but one softened by the rise of safe spaces.\u00a0Jade Lish, a fractional CMO who supports people made redundant through her work with The Marketing Academy, encourages people to lean on those around them, in order to move from panic to action.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ed_500be2-e1758849058676.jpeg\")
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