A Bengaluru-based fintech startup’s founder shared his experience of laying off a staggering 70 employees. However, what he did later is winning hearts online. In his post, the CEO wrote that he laid off 70 staff 18 months ago as the company was burning way too much capital and also hiring at lightning pace. He states,
It was our mistake. And we owned it.
He added,
It was one of the hardest things I’ve done as a founder.
But we tried to do it the right way.
Further he claimed
We spoke to each of the 70 people personally. Told them what went wrong, why this decision had to be made, and how we’ll support them. We gave them 3 months’ notice. Helped with referrals, intros, job leads – anything that could help.
The result? “67 got placed before the notice period ended. For the 3 who didn’t, we gave 2 months’ extra salary.”
The founder further highlighted everything that has gone wrong in the tech world in general. “Over 120,000 people were laid off this year.”
He adds,
And many of them didn’t even get a call. Some found out through a blocked email. Some were just removed from Slack in the middle of the day.
“That’s inhuman,” the peeved founder wrote. He continued, “Yes, layoffs happen. But how you handle them says everything about your culture.”
His last sentence resonated with several on the professional networking platform .
If you call someone “family” while hiring them, treat them like family when letting them go too.
Reactions poured in with LinkedIners applauding the founder. One user wrote, “the family thing in the corporate world is a joke.”
You can check Harsh’s LinkedIn post here.
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Cover: Patrick Gawande / Mashable India