According to business emails issued on April 18, software giant Infosys has laid off 240 entry-level workers who could not pass internal tests. The action comes after a round of layoffs in February, when the Indian IT services company fired over 300 trainees for similar reasons. Through NIIT and UpGrad, Infosys is providing free upskilling classes to those who are impacted. The layoffs occur while Infosys manages a low level of demand. For the upcoming fiscal year, the company has projected revenue growth of only 0% to 3%, highlighting the ongoing unpredictability in its primary markets. Following the announcement of the candidates’ final assessment attempt results, the email sent on April 18th said, “Please be informed that, despite additional preparation time, doubt-clearing sessions, several mock assessments, and three attempts, you have not met the qualifying criteria in the “Generic Foundation Training Programme.” Consequently, you will be unable to proceed with the apprenticeship programme.
Infosys Offers External Training Programme
The email went on to say that Infosys has expert outplacement services scheduled to assist you while you look for alternatives outside of Infosys. In order to prepare you for future positions in the BPM business, we also want to offer you another career path: enrolling in an external training programme supported by Infosys. You can also apply for open positions at Infosys BPM Limited after completing the training successfully. To further help your IT career journey, you can also choose an external training programme on information technology fundamentals offered by Infosys if you want to keep improving your IT skills. The trainees will also receive lodging, a month’s salary, and a transport stipend from the Mysuru training facility to Bengaluru or their hometown. NIIT will assist with IT training, while Infosys has partnered with UpGrad for BPM training. Additionally, Infosys has extended this offer to trainees affected in February, giving them the opportunity to sign up for these free upskilling courses. For the class that enrolled on October 21, 2024, roughly 730 trainees showed up for their third and last try on April 17, 2025.
Ups and Downs at Infosys
After failing internal inspections, the IT services exporter fired another 30 to 45 trainees from its Mysuru campus on March 26. A comparable alternative career path to that of the impacted trainees was presented to them, which included 12 weeks of training for possible positions in Infosys Business Process Management (BPM). These trainees were brought on board following a two-and-a-half-year wait, which was brought on by a macroeconomic slump that caused IT companies’ clients to stop investing in projects. The aforementioned trainees were hired as Digital Specialist Engineers (DSE) and System Engineers (SE). On April 17, Infosys announced that it intends to onboard 20,000 new hires this fiscal year, despite the fact that it is facing uncertainties in its key regions, including the US and Europe, since customers are holding back on spending on technology. Last year, it onboarded more than 15,000 new hires.
Since the beginning of 2025, the insurance-focused SaaS business Zopper has let go of about 100 workers; the most recent wave of layoffs occurred earlier this week. According to media sources, the startup’s management said earlier this week that over fifty members of the product and engineering teams had been let go. According to a media outlet, the company simply stated that it is attempting to reduce expenses. The startup laid off about 20 members of the engineering and product teams earlier this year, making this the second round of layoffs from these teams. According to the sources, it also fired its whole 40-person insurance staff early this year. A month’s salary is being offered by the startup as a severance package.
Zopper Recently Raised $25Mn
Nearly five months have passed since Zopper received $25 million in its Series D round. This funding round was co-led by Elevation Capital and Dharana Capital and included Blume Ventures, an existing investor. Zopper stated during its most recent fundraising campaign that it was developing a cutting-edge policy administration system (PAS). The PAS would make use of sophisticated algorithms, a current tech stack, and data handling and security measures to provide flawless client support. Zopper, which was founded in 2011 by Surjendu Kuila and Mayank Gupta, offers APIs for insurance distribution to insurance firms and other ecosystem participants. Through its unique embedded insurance API suite, it assists insurance businesses in connecting with partners such as e-commerce marketplaces.
Financial Outlook of Zopper
To date, Zopper has raised $121 million from investors such as ICICI Venture, Elevation Capital, Creagis, and Bessemer Venture Partners. From INR 162.4 Cr in FY23 to INR 438.7 Cr in FY24, its operating revenue increased by 170%. But its net loss also increased from INR 47.2 Cr in FY23 to INR 115.2 Cr, a 144% increase.
Layoff has Become a Common Scenario in 2025
With big companies like Google, Microsoft, and others continuing to reduce their workforces, layoffs in the tech sector are not expected to halt in 2025. Companies are still cutting employees in an effort to simplify operations, save money, and emphasise automation and artificial intelligence, even though these figures are much lower than the major layoffs that occurred between 2022 and 2023. Layoffs.fyi, a website that tracks layoffs in the industry, reports that 93 organisations have laid off nearly 23,500 tech workers so far this year, and the number is still growing. Google and Microsoft are apparently contemplating a new round of layoffs, according to the most recent job reduction reports. According to reports, AI-led restructuring and performance-based terminations are part of the corporations’ goals to increase the effectiveness of their personnel.
According to media reports, pharmaceutical giant Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories has started a comprehensive downsizing programme with the goal of reducing its personnel costs by over 25%. According to the report, numerous senior officials, including numerous workers who make more than INR 1 crore a year, have been asked to step down. According to a media report, voluntary retirement has been extended to employees in the company’s research and development (R&D) division who are between the ages of 50 and 55. According to the article, a number of high-paid employees from different departments have already been asked to step down.
Move Aligned with Company’s Aim of Improving Operational Efficiencies
This occurs when Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories keeps making strategic decisions to increase operational efficiencies. The pharmaceutical company recently launched a number of new medications and ventured into digital treatments and nutraceuticals (via a joint venture with Nestlé). The business has made significant hiring in recent years to support these new endeavours. The corporation may have to reduce the number of its staff if these new endeavours do not perform as expected. The nutraceuticals arm may experience some downsizing, while the therapeutics branch may be completely shut down. 300–400 individuals might be laid off as a result of this. Interestingly, in Q3 of FY25, the company recorded consolidated employee benefits expenses of INR 1,367 crore. Compared to the INR 1,276 crore in employee benefits expenses recorded in Q3 of FY24, this represented an almost 7% increase.
Layoffs have Become a Common Scenario in 2025
With big companies like Google, Microsoft, and others continuing to reduce their workforces, layoffs in the tech sector are not expected to halt in 2025. Companies are still cutting employees in an effort to simplify operations, save money, and emphasise automation and artificial intelligence, even though these figures are much lower than the major layoffs that occurred between 2022 and 2023. Layoffs.fyi, a website that tracks layoffs in the industry, reports that 93 organisations have laid off nearly 23,500 tech workers so far this year, and the number is still growing. Google and Microsoft are apparently contemplating a new round of layoffs, according to the most recent job reduction reports. According to reports, AI-led restructuring and performance-based terminations are part of the corporations’ goals to increase the effectiveness of their personnel.
In its Platforms and Devices division, which manages important products including Android, Pixel devices, and the Chrome browser, Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, laid off hundreds of workers. The action comes after the corporation launched a voluntary exit programme in January, indicating that it is working towards a more streamlined and flexible organisational structure. According to reports, Microsoft is also preparing for another round of layoffs that may begin as early as May 2025. Talks are apparently underway to boost the proportion of engineers to non-technical personnel and decrease middle-management positions.
The tsunami of IT layoffs in 2025 is not limited to industry titans; many other businesses in many sectors are also reducing their workforces significantly. The parent company of WordPress, Automattic, announced a 16% layoff that will impact about 270 workers. Likewise, Canva fired 10–12 technical writers in response to the company’s push for AI-generated content.
According to a media report, Alphabet’s Google has let go of hundreds of workers from its Platforms and Devices business. This division is in charge of important products like the Chrome browser, Pixel devices, and Android software. The layoffs come after a voluntary departure programme that was made available to staff members in January. The action is a component of a continuous reorganisation that started last year when Google combined its Chrome and Android teams under the Pixel and Devices group. This group is headed by Rick Osterloh, a company executive. The combined company employed around 20,000 people at the time of the merger.
Layoffs are Aligned With the Goal of Operating With Leaner Unit
The restructuring is intended to improve efficiency and agility within the Platforms and Devices team, a Google representative told a media source while confirming the layoffs. He claimed that the company has concentrated on becoming more agile and running more efficiently ever since merging the Platforms and Devices teams last year. This encompassed addition to the voluntary exit programme that Google implemented in January, such as job reductions. But the business also pointed out that recruiting is still going on both domestically and internationally. The most recent round of layoffs comes after Google reduced its headcount in 2023, laying off about 6% of its employees worldwide.
Even with additional layoffs since then, Google still employs about 180,000 people overall. Google launched a voluntary departure programme for US workers on Chrome, Pixel, and Android projects earlier this year. The programme was designed for workers who might not agree with the combined division’s new course or who found hybrid work arrangements difficult. Notably, the programme excluded teams that worked on artificial intelligence (AI) and search.
Layoffs has Become a New Normal for Bigger Players
This layoff announcement coincides with employment cuts by a number of multinational corporations, such as Amazon, Intel, and Goldman Sachs. Such developments are happening mainly owing to the growing impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and uncertainties in the global economy. Intel is getting ready for a massive restructure following a large financial loss in 2024. Similarly, Amazon also plans to eliminate about 14,000 administrative roles in order to save $3 billion yearly. Companies are increasingly focusing on cost optimisation and automation as a result of the rapid growth in AI adoption. This adoption is resulting in job losses across a number of industries.
Goldman Sachs is also getting ready to lay off employees, with intentions to trim staff by 3–5% after an annual performance review. About 150 junior banker positions were recently cut by Bank of America; nevertheless, the majority of impacted workers were offered opportunities outside of investment banking. Given the unpredictability of the world economy, more businesses might do the same in the months to come.
A media report claims that as part of a reorganisation plan, audio series provider Pocket FM is laying off about 75 workers. The company has laid off employees twice in the last six months in an effort to reduce expenses and get closer to profitability.
According to reports, Pocket FM terminated contracts with 200 freelance writers earlier in July and fired off 50 staff in October 2024. According to a corporate spokesman who confirmed the recent layoffs to a media outlet, Pocket FM has made the difficult choice to let go of over 75 of our valued team members as part of the company’s drive to create a more lucrative and efficient organisation.
According to sources, since the process is still ongoing, the final number of layoffs may be greater. Despite its difficulties, the spokesperson stated that this action was required to guarantee the organisation’s long-term viability and prosperity. The layoffs follow rival Kuku FM’s reported November 2024 layoffs of roughly 100 workers. More than 200 million people have signed up for Pocket FM, and in 2024 alone, they streamed more than 100 billion minutes of material. Additionally, the business reports that users have spent an average of 115 minutes per day using the app, and that over 45 million transactions have been conducted this year.
How Pocket FM Operates?
Founded in 2018 by Rohan Nayak, Prateek Dixit, and Nishanth Srinivas, Pocket FM offers more than 75,000 audio series in a variety of genres, including fantasy, romance, and thrillers. Both English and a number of Indian languages, such as Bengali, Tamil, and Hindi, are available on the platform.
It uses a freemium business strategy, giving users 15 minutes to view each of its audio series for free before allowing them to buy coins for INR 50–100. New episodes can be unlocked with these coins.
Financial Dynamics of Pocket FM
For the fiscal year 2023–2024 (FY24), Pocket FM recorded consolidated revenue of INR 1,051.97 crore, a remarkable six-fold growth over the previous year’s revenue of INR 176.36 crore. At the same time, the company’s losses dropped from INR 208 crore in the previous fiscal year to INR 165 crore.
Subscription income from micro transactions, which increased to INR 934.73 crore in FY24 from just INR 160 crore the year before, was said to be the main driver of the revenue surge. Anurag Sharma, chief financial officer of Pocket FM, informed a media outlet that the company anticipates an 80% increase in revenue this year (FY25).
Tencent, Lightspeed, Goodwater Capital, Stepstone Group, Times Group, Tanglin Venture Partners, and South Korean internet titan Naver are among the investors in Pocket FM. When the firm raised $103 million in March, led by Lightspeed, its latest valuation was $750 million. To date, it has raised $196.5 million in funding.
This article has been contributed by Sridhar Laxman, Executive Coach, Lucid Minds Coaching.
Layoffs, terminations, downsizing, and reorganization is a challenging and complex processes.
Companies hire employees when the business demand is high, cash flows are healthy, and the external environment is favorable for a quick and sustained expansion.
However, uncertainty is a given in life, just like everything else. Even the most accurate projections and company plans are often contested and abandoned during difficult times.
Most times, macro environments influence organizations to explore their ability or inability to retain employees. However, with the decision comes the responsibility to effectively communicate and manage the process of layoffs.
Communication becomes crucial during layoffs. Layoffs impact multiple stakeholders differently, Not only do the employees who are asked to leave get affected but the remaining employees across geographies also face anxiety, stress, and confusion.
From the moment the decision is made until the last identified employee hears it, communication plays a crucial and active role in the entire process.
Below are 8 ways that will help businesses handle communication amid layoffs compassionately and efficiently.
Develop a crisis communication plan even before the need arises. We live in a dynamic world with constant disruptions. The longevity of any organization is constantly challenged today because of the unprecedented times we live in.
Be Comprehensive
Ensure the crisis communication plan addresses and supports the needs of all stakeholders, not just the impacted employees. The crisis communication plan needs to address all stakeholders including employees, customers, vendors, and investors.
Be Guided by Values
Adhere to values while decision-making. This will bring clarity to what’s essential and reduce noise and distractions. Taking a value-driven approach to building the actual piece of communication can ensure real needs of stakeholders are met and addressed objectively.
Be Compassionate
Be compassionate in your written and verbal communication. Layoffs are not just about reducing roles; they impact the livelihoods, health, and well-being of employees and their families. Respect and dignity are compromised, which leaves the opportunity for fear, anxiety, and a feeling of helplessness to take over.
Therefore, communication must be thought through and designed to be genuinely compassionate and empathetic. Every effort should be made to lessen the impact of the unfortunate development.
Be Supportive
The plan needs to support the livelihood of those impacted. No matter how courteous your message is, it must also offer assistance to people who are affected.
In addition to compensation, companies should also provide other forms of psychological support.
For instance, businesses could provide employees with the various types of support outlined below to help them cope with the situation.
Access to a Counsellor or a Coach at no cost.
Access to relevant courses, skills, and career advancement material.
Contact details of reputed head hunters, and recruitment firms.
Links to open opportunities within group companies, and allied industries.
Free access to ebooks and audiobooks for a few months.
Links to consulting and vendor services required by the firm.
Letters of acknowledgment, and recommendations for future employers.
Be Clear and Patient
Layoffs are complicated; there’s no denying the harshness of the experience; companies could soften the impact by presenting the information in a clear, transparent, and patient manner instead of harsh or vague.
Impacted employees will have numerous questions, concerns, and clarifications; they will have worries and anxieties. Communicating clearly and ensuring questions get answered will reduce the pressure felt by impacted employees.
Be Mindful
During layoffs, legal counsel will have an approach of keeping the organization’s best interests in mind. It’s neither unfair nor wrong; it is what it is. However, communication designed mindfully can balance the need for risk mitigation with much-needed compassion and empathy.
Be Alert
In an age of fake stories and deliberate misinformation, unethical competition can run smear campaigns to discredit the organization.
Preemptive, proactive communication of facts and accurate information can prevent confusion and reduce the extent of the damage caused by misinformed campaigns.
Despite all of the above, layoffs still cause pain and suffering. This is a business decision that is made in the absence of other alternatives.
Layoffs not only impact employees but also other stakeholders of the company such as the customers, vendors, and investors.
In a layoff scenario, customers are more likely to be concerned about the service quality and contract fulfillment whereas, the vendors would need clarity on whom to interact with to continue serving the company.
In contrast, company investors are more likely to be anxious about the impact layoffs would have on their investments and returns. Similarly, potential company investors would tread cautiously and may withhold their investment decision.
However, communication is essential to maintaining corporate confidence in all of the above instances. With concise and clear communication, a business may influence how the many impacted stakeholders perceive, consider, and respond to the decision.
Organizations should therefore spend more time planning their communication to support individuals affected in a kind and compassionate way.
Generally, most companies follow email as the main communication channel for conveying layoffs.
How layoffs will be communicated with the individual as well as within the company?
The best way to communicate about layoffs with individuals as well as with the company is to organize a meeting at the individual level followed by a unit-level meeting.
How do you manage a team in layoffs?
During or after layoffs, managing a team is a bit of a challenge, well communication and motivating them is the key. Identify gaps between teams and avoid over-work.
When you start a business, apart from ideas, funds and a proper plan, you need people to work on that plan and execute it in a perfect way and those people are your employees, they are the driving force of an organization. Your employees are your assets, they are the ones who can make or break your company because a company is as good as its employees.
An employee’s efficiency can be found in the productivity of your business, they serve the customers along with you. Therefore, if you want to keep your business alive, you also need to take care of your employees, not only through monetary terms but from all around. Your internal public is as valuable as your external public.
Recently, Better.Com has fired 3000 employees, without any prior notice. In this article, we will talk about the reason for firing so many employees and what did the company do wrong. So without any further ado, let’s get right into the business.
“Employees are the key to your success with customers. Treat them well!” — Ron Kaufman
Better.com is an American company that provides mortgage lending and financing-related services through its online platform. The company was founded in the year 2014 by Vishal Garg and started its first business, Better Mortgage in 2016.
Vishal Garg, Founder and CEO of Better.com
The company is the direct lender of conventional loans, jumbo loans, fixed-rate mortgages, adjustable-rate mortgages and refinancing loans. The online mortgage company is backed by Softbank.
One of the attractive features of the company is that it does not take loan origination fees while providing loans. The headquarters of the company is situated in New York, United States of America.
Fired 900 Employees Over Zoom Call
Things took a wrong turn when, the digital mortgage company in 2021, on the month of December fired 900 employees over a Zoom Call. In a simple Zoom call, CEO Vishal Garg of the company announced that 900 of the employees, who were part of the Zoom call, are fired from their job.
The sudden terminations of those employees were met with a negative response around the world. The reasons for the termination were the lack of productivity and efficiency of the employees.
The Backlash From the Public
The sudden move by the company and its CEO received severe backlash from the world, as no prior notice was provided to them before their termination and created a negative impression of the company in the business industry.
The move was done after the company received a $750 million cash infusion. Following this incident, the CEO of the company, Vishal Garg stepped down from his position and took a break after being criticized by the public for this step.
After Garg’s break, he returned to his prior position. The situation grabbed the headlines and the action was criticised by general people for being extremely insensitive.
As mentioned above, before firing the 900 employees, Better.com has done a similar deed last year as well. After just a couple of months later, on March 8, Better.com again has sacked 3000 of its employees from their position in the United States of America and India.
The employees received their cheques in the payroll app and the way they got sacked was not at all in a good way as most of their computers got shut down in the middle of their work.
Amanda Bullard, Better.com
Reasons for the Lay Off
The first reason for the termination of the employees is the rise of interest value which has led to a drop in the origination value. The company let 35% of its workforce go. The company again said that efficiency is quite a big concern, so they are also laying employees off for that reason.
Where did Better.com Go Wrong?
The first fault is the lack of communication. Any kind of business need communication, lack of it will lead to problems only. Better.com has done the same thing twice, without having proper communication with their employees, the company is firing them. The employees were not given notice of their termination. This has created a negative impression of the company around the world.
Employees shared their experiences on different social media platforms, which has again created a stir. Bad word of mouth has been spread regarding the company, which somehow is affecting the company’s reputation.
As mentioned before the company is as good as its employees and the employer has every right to fire those who are not efficient enough and are not able to provide productivity. However, firing the employees must be done in such a way that it will not crush them entirely, proper communication is necessary while doing that.
FAQs
Why is Better.com laying off employees?
Better.com laid off employees citing the reason efficiency is a big concern for the company.
Who founded Better.com?
Better.com was founded by Vishal Garg in 2014.
When was Better.com founded?
Better.com was founded in the year 2014 by Vishal Garg.
Amazon.com is an American based e-commerce and technology giant. It is one of the big 5 companies in the United States in the tech sector. Amazon is considered to be the world’s most valuable brand and the most influential economic and cultural force in the world.
Recently Amazon’s managers have accused the company of hiring employees on the Hire to Fire Policy. Let’s look at what exactly is Hire to Fire policy and how Amazon is involved in it.
Certain people who have been claiming to be working in Amazon have been posting allegations against the company on various social media forums conveying that the company is involved in a Hire to Fire policy.
The company has been hiring employees just to fire them within a year. A recent report from several managers working with the e-commerce giant has conveyed that they have to do it in order to meet their annual targets.
Here the managers hire people internally or externally whom they intend to fire within a year. These people are hired just to meet the annual turnover targets which are called Unregretted Attrition (URA).
Amazon has a goal to fire a certain percentage of its employees on a yearly basis. Three Managers of the company had revealed that they were facing a lot of pressure to meet the goal that they had to hire the people just to fire them later.
A manager had conveyed that they hire people in order to meet the goals and fire them later just to protect the rest of the team. This practice is informally been called as hire to fire.
What is URA Goals?
Every manager is said to have a URA target and a URA target is the % of employees which the company wouldn’t regret firing one way or the other. Even the most senior Amazon executives including the CEO Andy Jassy are said to closely maintain their URA target.
There was an example quoted by the publication where Amazon Web Services teams which fell short to achieve their URA goals in 2020 and were forced to make up the difference in the year 2021. However, an Amazon spokesperson had denied that the company hires employees with the intention of firing them. He also added that the company does not use the phrase Hire to Fire.
Since the report was published there has been a lot of discussion about these in social forums. The Amazon employees have started speaking about the practice on online forums.
On the Hacker News Forum of Y Combinator, a person who claimed to be working as a principal software engineer at Amazon conveyed that the company’s weakest link was its managers. He added that there are very few managers who have the technical knowledge and a lot of them who lacked technical depth and also added that a lot of capable engineers are being fired due to these incompetent managers.
Another user who claimed to be in the manager position had agreed that there is a lot of scope for them to mess up the careers of the people through incompetent practices.
There was a discussion even on Redditt where some Amazon managers had said that they hire people to fire them later just to meet the internal turnover goal every year.
FAQ
How many employees does Amazon have?
Amazon currently has 1,298,000 employees.
Is Amazon the largest employer?
Amazon is the one of the largest employer after Walmart.
What company has the most employees 2020?
TCS has most number of employees with 448,400 as of 2020.
Conclusion
However, this practice is not just seen in Amazon but in a lot of other companies. A user had conveyed that this had earlier happened in Microsoft. A user from a tech company had conveyed that his manager had casually told him that the last spot in a team was for the person they would hire and later fire.
Tata technologies were founded in the year 1989, situated in Pune, India. It is one of the largest firms in India. Tata Technologies provides services in product lifecycle management, engineering and design, product development, manufacturing, and IT service management to automotive and aerospace original equipment manufacturers and their suppliers.
The company has branches in North America, Middle eastern countries, the Asia-specific region, and Europe. They have their regional headquarters in the United States. The company has around 8,000 employees which is their global workforce since they operate in more than 25 countries.
There was a recent controversy against Tata technologies which said that they had illegally terminated around 800 – 1000 employees.
In June 2020 Tata Technologies has put around 400 employees on Furlough. In simple terms, furlough is a temporary leave that is given to employees due to certain needs of the company or employer. It can be because of special needs like economic conditions.
June 2020, when the lockdown was imposed in India and the company saw its business slowing down during the pandemic. This was the reason for putting the employees on Furlough.
According to the company, the employees on furlough would be part of the company and would have access to their corporate insurance. But the employees wouldn’t receive their monthly salary until their furlough is removed. These 400 employees were asked to continue their leave until 31 December 2020.
On 1 March 2021, around 800 – 1000 employees received an email of termination from the company. The email had the content which said that the employees would receive a month’s salary and 31 March 2021 would be their last working day. The employees will be terminated without providing them their compensations, when they were on furlough.
The email received by the employees said that they were being asked to leave since the company was not able to find any billable assignments for its employees. The company has also stated that during the employee’s paid and unpaid leaves.
The company stated that, they tried to find billable assignments for employees. But unfortunately, they couldn’t find billable assignments according to the employees proportionate job expertise, work experience, and qualification.
NITES is an employee union that is a non-profit organization. It is based in Pune, Maharashtra. NITES (Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate). NITES has received several complaints from the employees of Tata regarding the termination.
Harpreet Saluja, the president of NITES has filed a complaint with the Labor Commissioner’s office in Pune. NITES has filed a complaint to take legal actions against Tata technologies, Hinjewadi, Pune. NITES filed a complaint stating that the employees were illegally terminated for maintaining the profitability of the business, during the pandemic.
According to the purview of the Industrial Disputes Act and the Shops and Establishment Act, IT firms like Tata technologies can’t implement Furlough. The concept of Furlough is considered illegal for IT firms.
In the complaint which was filed to the Labor Commissioner Pune, NITES wrote that the company has violated the Statutory Labor Laws and other rules and regulations issued on 31 March 2020 by the Government of Maharashtra.
NITES has stated that they are expecting the authorities of the state/central government to take necessary actions towards the company. They would want the authorities to provide them with a basic structure to handle such situations.
They would want the authorities to take strict actions so that this can be an example to other companies, also the rights of the employees would be protected. This incidence should avoid such insensitive behavior towards employees in the future. This was stated in the complaint letter provided by NITES.
Tata Technologies have refused such claims. It stated that they haven’t terminated 800 employees. They had a discussion with a selected set of employees and according to the discussion they had opted for paid leave and later on followed by unpaid leave. This was for a specific period of time.
The company also stated that these employees were still part of the company and received health and medical insurance from the company. Tata has claimed that even their immediate family members were covered under their corporate insurance policy.
The company said, due to the arising business challenges during July 2020 because of the lockdown in India. They had taken measures to make Tata technologies an agile, flexible, and responsive organization. They have said that the statement by NITES is not true.
FAQ
Do employers have to pay for layoffs?
Generally employees who lose their jobs in a layoff have no automatic right to severance pay but there are few exceptions-Mass layoff severance. The company has to provide a small amount of severance.
Can you be rehired after being laid off?
Yes, There are are no laws prohibiting employers from rehiring laid-off employees.
Who qualifies for furlough?
You can be furloughed whether you are on a full-time, part-time, agency, flexible or zero-hour contract, but you must have been on your employer’s payroll before the extension was announced.
Conclusion
The spokesperson of the company has stated that they were successful in assigning 18% of their employees with new tasks and projects. Meanwhile, the company has been trying to communicate and maintain the relationship with the remaining set of employees sticking to their statutory norms.
Ninjacart recently laid off 200 of its employees working in middle and senior management. The agritech company attributes this layoff to poor performances and unmatched expectations. While the ex employees try to stain the company’s image with stating about unethical HR practices, the management and CEO of Ninjacart are in complete denial.
Ninjacart is an agritech startup that provides fresh fruits and vegetables to retailers directly from the farmers. It supplies over 1400 tons of fresh produce directly from the farmers to supermarkets and kirana stores. Currently, is actively moving the farm products in seven major cities- Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR.
23 February, 2021. Ninjacart announced that they are laying off 200 employees. Thirukumaran Nagarajan, the CEO of Ninjacart, said that the lay off was the result of issues with employee’s performance.
About Ninjacart
Ninjacart is India’s largest Fresh Produce Supply Chain Company. They are pioneers in solving one of the toughest supply chain problems of the world by leveraging innovative technology. They source fresh produce from farmers and deliver them to businesses within 12 hours.
The company works with farmers in Indian villages to produce fresh farm and deliver it on a pan India platform. When they saw that farmers are exposed to various challenges such as price risk, information asymmetry in demand, delayed payments or even insufficient knowledge on distribution, they decided to intervene and provide a channel to these farmers which would bring them better returns on their harvest.
Vision of Ninjacart
They looked at Retailers struggling with low quality produce, unhygienic products and everyday hassle to collect the harvest and pointed to it as a major concern. They also noticed that the traditional supply chain lacks efficiency, needs more organization and has a high rate of food wastage.
Successful businesses are those which take off with an intention to solve problems experienced on grass root levels. And Ninjacart was founded precisely for that. The founders, Sharath Loganathan, Thirukumaran Nagarajan, Vasudevan Chinnathambi, Kartheeswaran KK, Sachin Jose and Ashutosh Vikram made an impeccable team to work towards creating a better channel for the farm produce to reach the locals more efficiently.
Backed by several venture capitalists, such as TigerGobal, Mistletoe, ACCEL, including giants like Walmart and Flipkart, Ninjacart aims to eliminate intermediaries and take control of supply chain management. It is their goal to make sure farmers are paid rightly with consistent demand and retailers are supplied with fresh and hygienic products.
Why did Ninjacart Layoff 200 Employees
Possible reason of Ninjacart’s layoff
As we address the elephant in the room, we are going to talk about why a company like Ninjacart, which, as an ongoing concern, is breaking grounds to upgrade trading conditions for farmers, is laying off so many employees all of a sudden?
Ninjacart laid off 200 employees across various functions at all employee levels. The labor cut happened across all its key geographics- Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad.
Unresolved issues from employees
The employees complained of being given a 15 day notice period whereas every other company provides a 30 day notice period which is bare minimum. Employees at senior levels have shown dismay as they have removed from the company by issuing fake resignations. Employees said that they don’t remember submitting any resignations and that their source was a portal used by the company’s HR department.
The employees believe the laying off was a part of their cost-cutting drive but the company has denied all such claims. According to CEO Thirukumaran Nagarajan, “Out of the 200 employees who were sent away, the majority of them were asked to leave due to performance issues. Every employee has an internal scorecard that we maintain so that whenever the performance dips below the expected KPIs, the manager (concerned) alerts him or her. If there is no improvement seen, the manager reports this to the HR who takes the final decision.”
“We have had cases of theft, including our own employees stealing our crates. We have found instances of several of our employees stealing crates of products and selling those in supermarkets and other offline markets. We were able to track down those employees in the past and terminate their jobs.” Thirukumaran Nagarajan further added
Apart from the layoffs, employees have complained about their performance appraisals being put on hold. Many companies, owing to the pandemic conditions, have had similar cost saving measures in place and CEO Nagarajan claims to have paid all the said payouts.
“We have never had cost-cutting measures, but we did make a decision to postpone payments of variable pay components of employees in April after the lockdown. We had to take this decision as we were unsure about how the business might look like after the nationwide lockdown. However, we have already paid the variable pay to all employees in 4 equal instalments in the month of September, October, November and December. The annual variable pay payout is for the period of April 2019 to March 2020,” he added.
Ninjacart calls upon innovators, problem solvers and executioners to be a part of their steadily growing team. It has a flexible schedule for its employees and aims to have a fun environment at work. It has hired several freshers, including some from IIM and middle and senior management level employees in the recent year and now going strong with 4000 plus employees.
Ninjacart Hiring Process
Casual Hiring Approach
Ex employees claim that the company had a casual approach towards hiring and firing people. It hired a batch of freshers from IIM and later fired them when their performance fell below a certain matrix without batting an eyelid or even giving them a second chance to improve themselves. This led to a lot of instability and insecurity among the employees and some of them left the company themselves.
The agritech recently caught a hiccup due to a mass lay off and alleged unethical HR practices where employee IDs were hacked by team managers to submit fake resignations. The CEO, Nagarajan commented that senior managers do not have the final say on layoffs without communicating the decision first to the HR department.
“The issue of a manager taking control of some employees’ official accounts to force termination only happened in a few cases, and I have already communicated to these employees to contact me personally for an appropriate resolution,” he added.
FAQ
How does Ninjacart make money?
Ninjacart is an AgriTech startup which allows farmers to sell their vegetables and fruits directly to retailers and restaurants without middlemen involved.
Who is the founder of Ninjacart?
Thirukumaran Nagarajan, Vasudevan Chinnathambi, Ashutosh Vikram, Kartheeswaran KK, and Sharath Babu Loganathan are founders of Ninjacart.
Why did Ninjacart lay off 200 Employees?
Ninjacart fired at least 200 employees citing performance and integrity issues, but employees believe the laying off was a part of their cost-cutting drive.
Conclusion
2020 Covid-19 pandemic left no stone unturned in messing up the world economy. Meanwhile, giants who stood tall taking hits from the pandemic, start up companies have struggled to even stay afloat. As we stated earlier, labor cut is a common practice when the company is in financial crisis and we surely empathize with that but the allegations Ninjacart are serious in nature.
HR practices form a very prominent and integral part of any organization. The preamble set by an organization’s HR practices enable a smooth run for employees from the top management to ground level employees, and hence they need to be as transparent as possible.
