Washington Post staffers grumbling about ‘chaotic and turbulent period’ at Bezos paper after forced buyouts

Washington Post staffers are looking forward to the new year after 2023 was plagued with poor morale, labor issues and a headcount reduction. 

"This has been a chaotic and turbulent period internally," a Washington Post insider told Fox News Digital. 

Interim CEO Patty Stonesifer sent a memo to staffers on Tuesday announcing that enough people accepted the paper’s voluntary separation package to reach its workforce reduction goal ahead of 2024. 

"We will enter the new year with a smaller organization but a better financial position on which to continue and build a great future for The Washington Post," Stonesifer wrote in the memo obtained by Fox News Digital. 

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"I am very aware of how difficult this process has been for everyone involved and I want to thank you for the grace and respect you have shown at every step," Stonesifer added. "Join me in recognizing the contributions of all our colleagues… as we exit this year." 

"The episode was emblematic of a messy and painful process that has left employee morale in tatters and the newsroom looking like Swiss cheese," Politico reported.

While Stonesifer admitted it was a "difficult" process, the insider said the buyout was "disruptive" and handled in a fashion that upset a lot of people. 

Employees didn’t appreciate that they were threatened with layoffs if voluntary separation goals were not met, and the insider felt the "company’s no-bargaining, take-it-or-leave-it position" on the buyout terms left much to be desired. 

The Washington Post isn’t commenting on the exact number of employees walking away, but Politico on Thursday reported 240 staffers took the buyout -- the same total that was previously reported by Fox News Digital. However, Politico reported the "paper was deluged with submissions" for the buyouts ahead of last Friday's deadline, putting it in the uncomfortable spot of convincing some staffers to change their minds and stay.

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The insider said there are rumblings inside the Post’s newsroom that too many people wanted to take the generous buyout package and flee the paper but it "has now been sorted out" and some accepted retention packages to stick around. 

"We’ll be losing 119 people from the newsroom, the biggest staff reduction in our history," the insider said. 

The Post did not confirm the specific total of newsroom employees who took the separation offer. 

The other voluntary separations will seemingly come from non-newsroom positions, but the paper has not publicly confirmed who is leaving. 

Earlier this month, unionized workers at the paper staged a 24-hour walkout over stalled contract negotiations, fueling questions about whether the paper's billionaire owner Jeff Bezos should intervene. The insider pointed to the "disruptive" buyout process coupled with labor issues as the cause of frustration. 

"This all comes amid the very tough – and unresolved -- bargaining on a new newsroom contract. Company and Guild both wanted to wrap that up by Dec. 31, but company’s last offer last week was insultingly lousy and also presented on a take-or-leave-it basis," the insider said, adding that there isn’t much appetite for a prolonged strike, and there is also "sentiment internally for accepting the company’s last crappy offer." 

"So, a muddle and a mess. It will all simmer down soon, I think, but it’s been bruising," the insider said. "And it has told us a lot of things about Jeff Bezos—namely, that he’s remote, detached and not the greatest fan of his employees."

Management has pushed back on the "take-or-leave-it" claim and insists progress has been made between the parties. 

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Stonesifer, meanwhile, sent another memo to employees noting that she was happy voluntary separation goals were met but "discouraged" by feedback related to the final offer to the Guild. 

"We put our best and final offer forward to the Guild last week and I fear it may not be understood that this contract offer is the best in decades at The Post – and in a time when our finances are difficult," Stonesifer wrote. 

A second Washington Post insider, who has worked at the paper for several years, isn’t thrilled with how things have played out. 

"People are very upset at how badly the process was handled. I went through many rounds of pre-Bezos buyouts and though some people were discreetly targeted in those rounds, the very public decimation of some units this time has been very demoralizing," the second insider told Fox News Digital. 

While morale is low at the Post currently, journalism veteran Will Lewis is set to take over as publisher and CEO in early January and the second insider feels employees will eventually move on. 

"People will move on. They were clearing the decks for Will Lewis, but it will leave a sour taste for his tenure for a while," the longtime staffer said.  

"The decision to offer voluntary packages to employees across the organization was designed in hopes of averting more difficult actions such as layoffs – a situation we were united in trying to avoid," a Washington Post spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

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On Dec. 8, Fox News Digital spoke to Post employees who took part in the biggest labor protest at the company in nearly half a century.

"We're protesting what we believe is the company breaking the law and bargaining with us in bad faith over our contract and also over voluntary buyouts that were offered to Post employees about a month ago," Katie Mettler, a reporter with the Washington Post and co-chair for news for the Washington Post Guild, told Fox News Digital as she joined over 750 of her colleagues.

Fox News’ Cortney O’Brien and Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.