Swiggy, which takes food delivery orders through the app, has laid off 380 workers as part of the company’s restructuring. Swiggy has attributed this to challenging macroeconomic conditions. However, the company’s co-founder and CEO, Sriharsha Majety, said the company had made poor decisions and over-hired.
In an email to the company’s affected workers, Sriharsha apologized to them, saying it was a very difficult decision after considering all options. He said that the growth rate of Swiggy has been lower than the company’s estimates. He said, “The company needs to re-think the indirect cost as it is impacting the profitability targets. We have already taken steps on other indirect costs like infrastructure and office. We also need to improve the
overall expenditure on staff. . Most of the hiring in the company was due to bad decisions. I should have done better at this.”
Swiggy has offered three to six months of cash payment to the affected workers under the Employee Assistance Plan, depending on their grade and length of service with the company. These workers will get three months’ salary or notice period salary and 15 days pay for each year completed in the company along with balance earned leave pay, whichever is higher.
Recently, Swiggy has launched an ambulance service to help its delivery executives and their dependents in case of emergency. To use the service, delivery executives need to dial a toll-free number or they can tap SOS on the app in case of an emergency.
Swiggy had reported that the current average response time on the ambulance service is 12 minutes. No document will be required to use this service. Delivery Executives only need to verify their Partner ID. Recently, a study by NITI Aayog said that the number of gig workers in the country is around 77 lakh and by 2029-30 it may increase to around 2.35 crore. These workers include consultants, bloggers, and delivery executives.
Swiggy had to make tough decisions to cut costs and reduce its workforce. Some reports indicate that Swiggy laid off a significant number of employees as part of these efforts. However, the details of these layoffs and the exact number of employees affected are not available to me. It’s important to note that such decisions are usually not taken lightly and are a result of the challenging economic conditions caused by the pandemic.
The company had to cut costs and restructure its operations to stay afloat as the pandemic led to a decline in demand for its services. While the exact number of layoffs is not confirmed, some reports suggest that as many as 1,000-1,500 employees may have been affected. The company has stated that the layoffs were a necessary step to ensure the long-term sustainability of the business and that it is providing support to those who have been affected.
The company stated that the layoffs were necessary to ensure its long-term viability and that it would provide affected employees with separation packages, including notice pay and unpaid salary, as well as assistance with finding new employment. This decision was taken to ensure the long term sustainability of the company in the wake of the economic impact of the pandemic.
