Creative agency CHE Proximity has made 35 roles redundant due to the impacts of COVID-19 on the business and its clients.
The redundancies were made a number of weeks ago.
CHE Proximity CEO Chris Howatson says the decision followed a number of clients moving into hiberation as a result of COVID-related measures.
He says many of the agency's clients are "central or adjacent to" the travel, leisure and lifestyle categories which have been impacted as a result of the pandemic.
"These clients have endured a terrible time and we’re delighted to see their businesses slowly remerge. Their closures obviously had an impact on our business, and as a result we made the very difficult decision to let 35 people go, or 8% of our total workforce," Howatson says.
The agency had already made its managing director roles in Sydney and Melbourne redundant in March to help keep the wider agency afloat.
Vanessa Nicol, who was MD for the Sydney office, was made redundant after just over a year in the role.
A Melbourne MD was due to start with the CHE Proximity but Howatson said at the time that their start date has been delayed until January 2021.
For now, he says the agency continues to introduce measures to protect the business and prepare it for the return to work post-pandemic.
"Similar to other businesses, we’ve also managed annual leave and temporary salary reductions to protect jobs," he says.
"Fortunately, as we plan the return to the office we’re experiencing a return to spend and these sustainability measures have been scaled back. It’s a difficult time for our people, clients and our industry and we’re supporting all three in every way we can."
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