Up to 500 jobs will be cut from CSIRO’s enterprise branch in what the staff association has labelled a “dark day” for the national science agency.
CSIRO chief executive Dr Doug Hilton emailed staff on Tuesday informing them that between 375 and 500 roles from the organisation’s Enterprise Services branch will be scrapped as part of efforts to achieve cost savings of at least $100 million.
The enterprise services branch includes technical, IT, administrative, financial, communication and general management roles.
“To support CSIRO’s financial sustainability, we need to reduce costs across enterprise services by 25 per cent – which is at least $100 million,” Hilton said in the email.
“Up until now, it has been difficult to quantify this in terms of roles, due to the variety of factors at play.
“Based on modelling conducted as part of Wave 3, I can now share that the staff impacted during Wave 3 of the [restructure] is likely to be between 375 and 500 roles.”
CSIRO Staff Association Secretary Susan Tonks said it was a “dark day” for the science agency and the job cuts were a “terrible outcome”.
“These cuts are a body blow for CSIRO and have the potential to cripple research output as scientists scramble to cover support gaps,” Tonks said.
“However, we know that research positions at CSIRO are not safe, and the cuts just keep on coming.”
‘Confronting reality’
The Enterprise Services Reform project was announced in February this year after it was commissioned late last year by Hilton.
The scale and extent of the job losses as a result of these reforms had not previously been revealed to staff or the general public.
“The range reflects several variables, and we will be doing everything possible to minimise staffing impacts,” Hilton said in the email to staff.
“This includes looking for additional savings in our operating budget, term ends where appropriate, natural staff attrition, and in some cases, through voluntary redundancy. I know this is a confronting reality, but I also firmly believe in transparency.”
There have been several job cuts across a range of CSIRO divisions in recent months.
According to the Staff Association, 43 jobs have been scrapped in health and biosecurity, 30 in agriculture and food, five in manufacturing, and up to 120 are expected to be lost at Data61.
The Staff Association has been campaigning for these job cuts to be reconsidered, and have written to Minister for Science Ed Husic urging him to intervene.
“These current cuts are on track to be the worst since Tony Abbott slashed CSIRO funding in 2014,” Tonks said.
“Staff can’t believe that a Labor government – with a pro-science agenda and interventionist industry policy – are set to preside over hundreds of job cuts to Australia’s top researchers.
“Science Minister Husic needs to step in, restore funding and help stop these CSIRO cuts.”
Earlier this month Hilton rejected the association’s calls for the job cuts to be reversed, and Husic is yet to intervene in the situation.
CSIRO isn’t the only organisation to experience significant layoffs this year, with some of the biggest tech firms in the world also moving to reduce their workforce.
Just this week, US tech multinational Cisco announced it would be cutting 7 per cent of its workforce, or about 6,000 workers.
According to layoffs.fyi, nearly 135,000 employees have been laid off across more than 400 tech companies in 2024.
