埃培智集团（IPG）旗下公关公司万博宣伟（Weber Shandwick）宣布开始采取裁员、放无薪假并采取了其他相关的成本控制措施。

迄今为止，在整个营销行业中公关公司所受影响一直都是最小的，不过受主要客户皇家加勒比游轮及百威英博等削减广告花费所累，万博宣伟也是压力重重。

万博宣伟在全球有4000到5000名员工，目前还不清楚裁员会波及多少人。该公司一位匿名员工向《Business Insider》透露，多地办公室中负责快消品和旅游客户的消费业务团队所受打击巨大。而上周，在负责企业形象公关的团队中至少已有一名高管被裁。

万博宣伟全球CEO  Gail Heimann给员工们发了一封内部邮件。即日起，员工们就会陆续收到无薪休假以及裁员的通知。而公司的人力资源部门也会同员工们进行视频沟通，告知员工他们的工作会受到怎样的影响，同时向员工们发送一封正式的情况说明文件和福利列表。

Gail Heimann在一份声明文件中写道：“这是一场前所未有的危机，不幸的是，在这场全球性流行疾病给经济造成的损失面前，我们的行业和万博宣伟都未能幸免。虽然所有的决策都异常艰难，但我们依然不得不做出与万博宣伟部分员工分手的决定。”

随着企业对内外传播管理需求的上升，一些公关公司其中在疫情期间从中“受益”，而对于大型广告传播集团来说，旗下的公关公司的业绩表现也优于其他的营销业务线。比如，WPP达邦集团3月份的公关业务营收下降了4.4%，而广告公司和活动营销公司的营收则分别下滑了6.6%及15.2%。宏盟集团第一季度的公关业务内生增长率甚至上升了0.2%，但广告公司的内生增长率却下滑了0.1%。

埃培智集团掌门Michael Roth曾在4月22日举行的财报电话会议上表示，公关业务表现依然强劲。

尽管如此，公关公司的日子并不好过，包括爱德曼（Edelman）、凯旋公关（Ketchum）及福莱国际传播咨询（Fleishman Hillard）在内的业内顶尖公关公司都纷纷进行了裁员和降薪。

而埃培智集团内部也有很多公司采取了相应措施，上周，该集团旗下的另一家公关公司高诚公关（Golin）也宣布开始裁员。

以下为万博宣伟全球CEO Gail Heimann发给员工的一封内部邮件，大致翻译如下：

Important Agency Update. 重要通知。

 Hi. I don't want to mince words or bury the lead. Today is a sad day for Weber Shandwick. We have to part ways with a number of colleagues from around the network, people who have made good things happen for our firm and clients. People who are friends. 嗨，我不想拐弯抹角亦或是掩盖事实，直接说吧，今天对万博宣伟来说是个悲伤的日子。我们要跟昔日的一些同事分别了，他们曾为公司和客户努力过，他们都是我们身边的朋友。

 It is something I hoped I would not have to do; it is a wrenchingly hard decision to make. And I know it is indescribably hard for those to whom we are saying good-bye. In addition we are furloughing some members of our team and asking others to move to a reduced schedule until the business environment improves. I want to tell you how we got to this place and give you a sense of where we are going from here. 我一直希望自己不需要去做这种事，这是一个令人心酸的决定，向他人告别这种感受难以形容。我们将裁掉团队中的一些人员，此外，还有一些员工也会在大环境好转之前减少工作时间。在此我想告诉大家我们是如何走到今日这样一种境地的，也想让大家了解清楚我们未来的发展方向。 

I've shared in other emails and at Live Show meetings that, like many of our clients and every organization in our industry, we have felt the impact of the pandemic. Today, a little over four months since we first heard about COVID-19 and eight weeks since the majority of our population began working from home, we continue to experience client pull-back across various sectors. That pull-back is mirrored on the new business front as many companies are putting plans for new assignments and agency searches on hold. Together, these forces are conspiring to inflict additional downward pressure on our business. 

此前我已在邮件或是线上会议中分享过。我们的客户同行业内的其他公司一样，也深受疫情影响。到今天，从我们听到新冠肺炎这个名称已经过去了整整4个月，而我们大部分人的居家办公也已经进行了8个星期。我们各个领域的客户都在不断撤回预算，在新业务上也是一样，很多客户都暂停了新的项目委任以及寻求新代理商的计划。这些因素的共同作用导致了我们的压力与日俱增。

We took early actions to help protect our business and our people. Our senior pay cuts and other cost reductions – limited hiring, salary freeze, expense reductions – allowed us to delay and diminish the actions we are taking this week, but, unfortunately, not eliminate them. It is my job – and that of our leaders around the network – to protect our business – to do everything we can to ensure stability this year and put our firm in a position to thrive and grow in years to come. The core of our business remains strong as does our commitment to work tirelessly to protect as many jobs as possible as we navigate towards and through the many phases of recovery. I hope that minimal further steps are required. 

所以我们要尽早行动以更好的保护我们的业务和员工。高管团队已经进行了减薪，同时我们也采取了一系列的成本控制措施，比如冻结招聘、停止涨薪以及其他的开支削减。这些举措也帮助我们适当的推迟了该决定的发生，但不幸的是，我们依然未能幸免。我的工作，包括管理层在内，就是要尽力保护我们的业务，确保今年的稳定，以期在未来可以恢复以及更好的发展。此外，我们的核心业务依然坚挺，我们也承诺，将努力保护尽可能多的工作岗位，在经济复苏的阶段中也是如此。希望我们目前只要采取该最低限度的裁员即可。 

The colleagues leaving Weber Shandwick have been a part of a culture of caring. We are working to support them, extending health insurance benefits and offering professional career assistance as appropriate. My thanks to them for their many contributions to what we are. They are incalculable. My thanks to all of you for everything you're doing – defying the distance between us to make extraordinary and important work, defying tough personal circumstances and the worst global crisis I can remember or imagine to "be there" — from wherever you are — for each other. 

对于离开的同事，我们会尽力向他们提供帮助，延长医疗保险福利并酌情提供职业发展协助。感谢他们对公司的奉献，他们的贡献是不可估量的。同时我也要感谢所有人，感谢你们所做的一切。无论大家相隔多远，都能出色的完成工作；无论个人环境多么糟糕，或者说全球危机多么恶劣，我们始终并肩前行。 

 You made it very clear in our recent employee survey that you wanted frequent and transparent communications. So I will continue to update you on our business realities – the good, the bad and sometimes, like today, the very painful. I am beyond grateful for your continued support and partnership as we navigate these very difficult and challenging times together. 

在近期的员工调查中，大家非常明确的表示希望公司内部可以更频繁更透明的进行沟通。因此我会继续向大家汇报我们的状况，无论是好的还是坏的消息，可能有时也会像今天一样，十分悲痛。我非常感谢大家的支持与合作，让我们一起度过这段艰难且充满挑战的时期。

Please stay well. 愿大家平安。 

Gail