Jobs axed as Hall rejigs Charlotte St.(Saatchi and Saatchi reorganizes under James Hall, chief executive)(Brief Article)

Saatchi & Saatchi has axed 10 per cent of its London staff as part of a sweeping restructure designed to cut costs and revitalise the agency.

The new chief executive, James Hall, denied he was acting on orders from the network's worldwide chief executive, Kevin Roberts, to reduce costs by 10 per cent. He would not confirm exactly how many people have lost their jobs, but it is thought the figure nears 50.

Hall's plans, implemented just five weeks after he was parachuted in from Saatchis' New Zealand operation, include "de-layering" the agency's account handling department, moving the agency's healthcare arm to Saatchi Vision, axing its in-house PR and moving the Cause Connection charity arm to Octagon Media.

Last week Saatchis confirmed it was moving its media planning into Zenith, leaving only Carlsberg Tetley in-house, withthe subsequent loss of 12 jobs, including the media director, Ron Mudge.

The three managing partner roles within the main agency have been abolished, leaving a flatter account management team of 18, reporting directly to Hall.

"We need to get rid of our non-core operations to focus on making a leaner and faster structure," he said. "Without layers of management, we can concentrate on the real issues -- our clients' work." He said the managing partner role -- which split up ...