CSIRO Chief Executive Doug Hilton has refused to rule out job cuts as part of a plan to reorganise Enterprise Support Services, issuing a blunt warning to staff that “we are on a trajectory at the moment that is unsustainable.”
The comments were made at a recent all staff webinar and refer to a larger Enterprise Services Reform project, commissioned by Professor Hilton in late 2023 and helmed by Executive Director Peter Mayfield.
While a high-level announcement of proposed changes to Enterprise Support Services (ESS) is imminent – and anticipated to focus initially on top-line structure and a reduction in Executive positions – a larger revamp of support functions and capabilities throughout business units and across the organisation is expected to follow over coming weeks.
Invoking the need for transparency, Professor Hilton provided a stark assessment of the state of science support levels at CSIRO.
“We have to reduce the amount that we’re spending on enterprise services. We have to have the same discipline in research as well… but the focus at the moment is on enterprise services.
“There is a need to be able to cut costs. We can look at that from an operational viewpoint… but given 70 per cent or so of our costs are salaries, we are going to have to reduce headcount in parts of enterprise services, while still maintaining the core of what we need to do to support research in the simplest possible way.”
In response to a question about ESS job cuts, Professor Hilton said the organisation would attempt to “achieve savings” through non-renewal of term appointments and by offering voluntary redundancies.
“But I’m not going to stand here and say there is not going to be a reduction in staff numbers. I think that would be disingenuous.”
“That’s what we’ve got to map out through consultation in the next weeks and months.”
Staff Association representatives are meeting with senior Executives in a bid to secure more information about the size, scale and location of any potential redundancies.
The ESS overhaul is also shaping up as an early credibility test for CSIRO Executive’s commitment to meaningful and genuine, pre-decision staff consultation; a new legal obligation of the incoming enterprise agreement.
ESS employees who are Staff Association members and are potentially affected are encouraged to contact the union to arrange support and individual representation.
