REA Group Wants Staff to take 'Negative Leave' After 9% Profit Slump

REA Group has asked its staff to take extra time off as the company seeks to save money.

The company's leadership wants its 3,000-strong workforce to max out its annual leave allocation for the year, plus an extra two days paid leave, to balance the books.

In an email sent to staff and published by the Australian Financial Review, REA management said “given the challenging market conditions we are facing a business, we have to look at all avenues to manage our costs, which significantly impacts EBITDA delivery”.

REA will also have a one-day shutdown in April to force employees to dip into their leave.

Profits at the portal giant were down 9 per cent in the last three months of 2022, driven mainly by a decline in listings in its core Melbourne and Sydney markets.

Listings nationally dropped 21%, 34% in Sydney and 31% in Melbourne.

The full breakdown of REA Group's most recent financials, published last week, is here.