New York-based global tech travel firm Fareportal has reportedly laid off about 200 employees from its Gurugram and Pune offices amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The novel coronavirus pandemic has crippled the travel industry forcing companies to run for their money and conserve as much capital as they can. This has led travel companies to resort to cost-cutting measures which sometimes include laying off employees to save cash burn.
As per various tweets by fired employees, it is being said that the Human Resource department of Fareportal has forced employees to resign themselves otherwise they won’t be paid their pending salaries too.
Few tweets also highlighted that the company is facing huge financial losses and are only firing people whom they had recently hired. A few other tweets pointed out that the HR team asked them to submit their resignations via a phone call rather than an official mail. The fired employees got the official end of contract email only after they submitted their resignations.
It is very surprising to see that despite government requests to private companies about not laying off employees in this crisis, organizations are resorting to such acts and asking employees to submit resignation letters themselves. The fired employees through their tweets have urged the Prime Minister’s Office and Labour Ministry to take immediate action against the company.
Lay off during this pandemic was expected in the travel industry as several countries worldwide have curbed all kinds of travel within or outside the country to prevent the transmission of the novel coronavirus. Countries have entered a lockdown stage where people are repeatedly being asked to not step out of their houses in an attempt to prevent community transmission of the virus.
According to a report by the International Labour Organization, it is being estimated that the pandemic will lead to a joblessness crisis worldwide. The UN agency estimated that more than 25mn people will lose their jobs and the pandemic will have a wider impact on the economy.
Recently, another Gurugram-based travel startup TravelTriangle also laid off about 300 people from their workforce in a similar manner citing cost-cutting measures as the reason to its employees.
However, none of the companies have issued any confirmation yet. Our Newsdesk team is constantly trying to reach the companies for their comment.
Note: If you or some one your know has been affected by the Fareportal layoffs, or similar layoffs / decisions affecting employees, in other companies you are welcome to share details ( your side of story and additional details) with us. If you represent the employer, and want to present your view point please write to us. You may connect with us at newsdesk@hrnxt.com.
Sandeep is a journalism and mass communication graduate with a keen interest in politics and business. He is a part of Research & Content team at HrNxt.com.