Modesto Bee offers buyouts to 100 employees

The Sacramento Bee's sister newspaper, The Modesto Bee, has offered voluntary buyouts to more than 100 employees -- or a little more than 20 percent of its staff of 455.

The offers came a month after The Sacramento Bee offered similar voluntary buyouts to less than 2 percent of its work force. Like Sacramento, The Modesto Bee cited challenges in the industry.

"We're really just managing through a very challenging business environment. Our business model is changing," publisher Margaret Randazzo said. "We're realigning our resources to support a multi-media operation and changing our business practices to become more efficient."

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As newspapers face competition for advertising dollars from the Internet and other media formats, they're putting greater emphasis on the Web.

The Modesto and Sacramento Bee newspapers are owned by Sacramento-based The McClatchy Co. The Bee newspapers' ad revenue has also been hit hard by the downturn in the housing market.

The voluntary buyouts were offered to employees in every division at The Modesto Bee, though no offers went to advertising sales representatives or reporters, Randazzo said.

"The buyouts were offered to managers and non-managers alike," she said, adding that in the newsroom only copy editors and editors received the offer.

"We feel like the buyouts will affect a very small number of the newsroom's 90-plus employees," she said.

Limits will be enforced on the number of buyouts that any one department can take, Randazzo said in an e-mail to employees. The e-mail memo was sent Monday to notify staff of the plan. The memo states that there is "no minimum 'target' that we are required to achieve."

Employees are being offered two buyout scenarios to choose from. One package offers up 12 months of medical coverage and as much as 24 weeks of pay, based on tenure. The other offers three months of medical coverage and up to 26 weeks of pay, depending on tenure.

Employees who are approved for the program will work through May 16. It's anticipated that the percentage of The Bee's work force that will actually take, and get approved for, the offer will be in the "low single digits," Randazzo said.