Nerves get rattled when the head of HR addresses a town hall meeting. They were at REA staff’s get-together on Thursday when the new chief people officer, Elisa Nerone, took to the mic with chief technology officer Steve Maidment.

The pair told those gathered that the News Corp-controlled digital real estate company would cut jobs from the tech team. According to one person present, it could be around 15 per cent of the unit, part of a major cost-cutting restructure that involved offshoring roles to India.