Healius, Thoughtworks lay off workers after Covid pandemic that saw huge profits from PCR testing
Aussie health giant that exploded during Covid pandemic thanks to PCR tests lays off hundreds of workers as tech sector also suffers losses
- Healthcare company cuts hundreds of employees
- Aussie company facing tough market conditions
An Aussie health company that exploded during the Covid pandemic thanks to PCR testing has laid off hundreds of workers as the country moves towards coming to terms with the virus.
Healthcare company Healius, the pathology arm of Specialist Diagnostic Services, is one of Australia’s leading providers of private medical and laboratory services.
The company enjoyed tremendous success during the coronavirus pandemic, but with fewer and fewer people getting PCR tests, it announced Monday it would cut 500 full-time positions due to “attrition.”
The cuts correspond to approximately 13 percent of the 6,500 employees.
The ASX-listed company provides pathology and imaging services and helped set up and run a number of drive-through Covid-19 PCR collection centers.
Healthcare company Healius has scaled back operations as Australia learns to live with coronavirus (stock image pictured)
In 2020, Healius’ first quarter revenue increased from $480.2 million to $689.9 million, and revenue nearly tripled to $201.9 million.
A spokesperson for Healius said the 500 job losses were linked to both “attrition and layoffs” and that the cuts meant the workforce had returned to 2019 levels – before the pandemic began in early 2020.
The spokesman said news.com.au the jobs cut were mainly support and back-office positions and were done to make the company a more ‘efficient’ operation.
Healius said some employees would be offered severance payments “if appropriate”.
Healius provides pathology and imaging services and had helped set up drive-through Covid-19 PCR collection centers
Healius also continues to invest in frontline staff at pathology and imaging sites to enable growth and meet the demand for diagnostic testing that has picked up since the end of the pandemic.
The health care company released its interim results last week, which showed it had posted a loss of $28.7 million in the first half of this fiscal year.
Half-year profit was $8.1 million, a huge drop from last year’s $244 million.
Software company Thoughtworks also recently announced a round of layoffs, cutting four percent of its total workforce.
The organization – which has offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane – laid off 100 employees last week.
Software company Thoughtworks laid off 100 employees last week
The layoffs come amid widespread worker cuts, while a recession looms amid rising interest rates, rising inflation and tough market conditions.
The Reserve Bank of Australia is also expected to do so again raise the official spot rate this week to a ten-year high of 3.6 percent.
National accounts figures released last week showed that the Australian economy grew just 0.5 percent in the last three months of 2022.