Toyota Australia white-collar workers face nervous wait

Toyota Australia embarks on a Sydney versus Melbourne battle as white-collar jobs get cut.

Up to 1000 white-collar workers at Toyota Australia will know late on Wednesday whether or not they will have a job once the Camry factory closes in 2017 -- and if they have to move to Sydney or Melbourne.
 
Toyota Australia is preparing to scale back its head office operations and combine its two sites in Sydney and Melbourne into one.
 
More than 3900 workers have received an email about the staff announcement on Wednesday afternoon but no-one has a clue which way the decision will fall.
 
Both existing Toyota head office sites at Port Melbourne and Caringbah near Sydney’s southern beaches are sitting on prime residential land expected to be worth enough to pay for most of the redundancies associated with the factory closure.
 
In addition to the 2500 factory workers who will lose their jobs once the Camry factory at Altona closes near the end of 2017, there is uncertainty around how many of the remaining 1400 white-collar jobs will be needed.
 
Other leading car brands such as Mazda and Hyundai both operate their sales and marketing operations each with fewer than 250 office staff. 
 
Toyota Australia currently has 1400 office staff once regional offices are taken into account.
 
“We have duty of care to make this to most respectful transition to a sales and distribution company in the history of Australia,” the Toyota Australia president Dave Buttner told News Corp Australia earlier this year.
 
“We’ve tried to have the most open communication process (with employees) we’ve ever had as a company,” he said at the time.
 
Toyota Australia spokeswoman Beck Angel said media would not be notified of the decision until after workers were told at about 4:30pm on Wednesday December 3, 2014.
 
Toyota Australia’s head office in Port Melbourne has 326 staff while the sales and marketing office in Caringbah, a seaside suburb south of Sydney, has 309 employees.
 
Mr Buttner would not be drawn on which office would close, or if both would remain open. But he said a decision would be made public this year to give workers at both locations ample notice to relocate or find a new job.
 
Toyota insiders have warned that staff numbers could drop below 400 once Toyota becomes solely an importer, meaning up to 1000 jobs could go.
 
Meanwhile, Holden’s total workforce today stands at 3400, but once the 1700 factory jobs go that will leave Holden over-staffed with approximately 1200 white-collar workers and its total could also fall below 500 once its factories close.
 
By comparison, Mazda, the third-biggest-selling car brand in Australia, has 250 office staff and sells about half as many cars as Toyota and almost as many as Holden.
 
Hyundai has less than 200 staff and sells almost as many vehicles as Mazda.
 
Holden says it will retain at least 140 designers who will work remotely on global General Motors vehicles, while Ford will employ about 1200 designers and engineers to help develop foreign Ford vehicles.

 
Toyota Australia total workforce: 3900
Factory: 2500
White-collar: 1400
Total number of cars sold in 2013: 215,000
Number of cars sold per head office employee in 2013: 55
Average number of cars sold per dealership in 2013: 1000
 
Holden Australia total workforce: 3400
Factory: 1700
Engineering and design: 500
Head office staff: 1200
Total number of cars sold in 2013: 112,000
Number of cars sold per head office employee in 2013: 93
Average number of cars sold per dealership in 2013: 480
 
Ford Australia total workforce: 2450
Factory: 850
Engineering and design: 1200
Head office staff: 400
Total number of cars sold in 2013: 87,000
Number of cars sold per head office employee in 2013: 217.5
Average number of cars sold per dealership in 2013: 440
 
Mazda Australia head office workforce: 250
Factory: N/A (import only brand)
White-collar: 250
Total number of cars sold in 2013: 103,000
Number of cars sold per head office employee in 2013: 410
Average number of cars sold per dealership in 2013: 825
 
Hyundai Australia head office workforce: 200
Factory: N/A (import only brand)
White-collar: 200
Total number of cars sold in 2013: 97,000
Number of cars sold per head office employee in 2013: 485
Average number of cars sold per dealership in 2013: 605