Yelp, a San Francisco-based company connecting people with local businesses from restaurants, boutiques and salons to dentists, mechanics, plumbers and more has announced that it has laid off 1,000 employees and furloughed an additional 1,100 workers as the company struggles with reduced spending from restaurants.
The news about downsizing its workforce amid the coronavirus pandemic comes from an email sent by the co-founder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman to its employees stating : “Today we will let 1,000 of our colleagues go and furlough approximately 1,100 more, while reducing hours for others. We came to this decision as a last resort only after cutting non-employee expenses where possible.”
“We want to do everything we can to support our departing colleagues. Employees affected by the layoff will be offered severance pay, and reimbursement for up to three months of health insurance coverage. Employees on furlough will be put on unpaid leave, unless otherwise noted, but will retain the bulk of their benefits during this time and receive two weeks of additional pay. Those who have hours reduced will also continue to retain their benefits,” it added.
To further enact cost savings, Stoppelman also announced that all Yelp executives would receive a 20 to 30 percent pay cut. In addition, Stoppelman said he would not take a salary and has no intention to vest any of his 2020 stock awards for the rest of the year.
Last month, Yelp launched an initiative to provide $25 million in ad credits to small businesses while also announcing a partnership with GoFundMe. However, later that week, the company paused the donation program following numerous complaints from restaurant and bar owners.
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