By: Joe Strupp North Jersey Media Group, which owns The Record of Hackensack, N.J., and the Herald News of West Paterson, N.J., is dropping its 401(k) matching benefit, according to a memo issued by Chairman of the Board Malcolm Borg.
The memo, issued Tuesday, states that the move will save the company about $1.3 million annually and is being done as an alternative to a shorter workweek or a one-week furlough. It will affect about 750 employees.
"Most regrettably, we will be suspending the company's matching contribution to employees' Retirement Savings Plan accounts," the memo, obtained by E&P, reads. "This action will prevent some additional job losses at NJMG and will do so without affecting RSP participants' paychecks."
The memo later states: "We chose to drop the RSP match rather than, as Gannett has done, force our employees to take a one-week furlough without pay. We also did not adopt a 4-day workweek with 4 days' pay or a 5-day workweek with 4 days' pay. We do not want to touch your weekly compensation. We are trying to keep all of you as whole as we can, subject to more degradation in the over-all economy."
Borg also adds that the money saved by dropping the retirement match "is roughly equivalent to 25 jobs -- jobs we hope to preserve." He writes that the company hopes to reinstate the program when the economy improves.
North Jersey Media spokeswoman Linda Iceland confirmed the change, saying, "It is for all North Jersey Media Group [employees]. It would affect those who are participating in that program."
The cutback comes as North Jersey Media is seeking to cut other costs and The Record is planning to eventually relocate from its Hackensack headquarters to the Herald News offices, as well as those of its many weekly publications. More reporters are also becoming "mobile journalists," working primarily from the road or their homes.
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