The travel industry has been in a soup since the coronavirus outbreak. With governments imposing lockdowns and travel restrictions, the industry is getting severe blows from all sides. While experts have predicted that major organizations will survive the crisis, startups were looking at a dead-end. Several travel-related startups have laid off significant numbers of employees to meet ends but even organizations which had strong hold on the market are now opting for downsizing.
Recently, travel firm MakeMyTrip announced that it is laying off about 350 employees due to the global travel ban because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company said that there is a huge uncertainty over the travel industry going back to the pre-COVID time.
The decision to lay off employees was announced by the company Founder Deep Kalra and Chief Executive Officer Rajesh Magow in a letter to employees. The company in the beginning of the crisis had maintained that it will not resort to layoffs but now says that “it is evident that the pandemic has changed the viability of the business.”
“As we revisited some of our strategic imperatives to be able to sustain our business in the long term, it is evident that the pandemic has changed the context and viability of some of our business lines in its current form. Keeping this in mind we have had to take this sad but inevitable decision of rightsizing our workforce,” the letter read.
“We are truly appreciative of all the work they have put in over the years to make this organisation what it is today. The staff rationalisation we have had to undertake is mapped to our future business strategy and is in no way a reflection of the work done by people in these teams. We wish them only the very best for what follows from here, and we thank them deeply for their rich contribution to Go-MMT,” it added.
Assuring the estranged employees of support, the company said that it is offering mediclaim coverage for individuals and their families till the end of the year, leave encashment, gratuity, retaining the right to exercise part of RSUs as applicable, retention of company laptops and outplacement support apart from salary payments as per their notice periods.
Kalra and Magow end the letter with, “It is undoubtedly the toughest decision we have had to take so far and it’s the saddest day for us as an organisation.”
The Indian job market has been witnessing layoffs since the beginning of the crisis with more than 10,000 employees being laid off only from the tech industry. The travel industry is an entirely different story. Companies like OYO, TravelTriangle, and Fareportal have handed pink slips to a large number of employees and more job cuts are expected.
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