REA Group Wants Staff to take 'Negative Leave' After 9% Profit Slump

February 20, 2023

REA Group has asked its staff to take extra time off as the company seeks to save money.

The company's leadership wants its 3,000-strong workforce to max out its annual leave allocation for the year, plus an extra two days paid leave, to balance the books.

In an email sent to staff and published by the Australian Financial Review, REA management said “given the challenging market conditions we are facing a business, we have to look at all avenues to manage our costs, which significantly impacts EBITDA delivery”.

REA will also have a one-day shutdown in April to force employees to dip into their leave.

Profits at the portal giant were down 9 per cent in the last three months of 2022, driven mainly by a decline in listings in its core Melbourne and Sydney markets.

Listings nationally dropped 21%, 34% in Sydney and 31% in Melbourne.

The full breakdown of REA Group's most recent financials, published last week, is here.

February 20, 2023
Harvey is an accidental real estate journalist and professional copywriter. He has written about the property industry since 2015, starting at The Property Franchise Group in the UK, before moving to Spain to work for Spotahome. He has worked as a freelance copywriter since 2021, with a special focus on startups real estate. Harvey joined Online Marketplaces as a News Editor in 2022, writing over 2000 news stories and interviewing dozens of high profile industry leaders both in-person and as a co-host of the PPW Podcast.

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