Udaan lays off several contractual staff, offers one-month compensation

B2B e-commerce platform Udaan has fired several of its ground staff who were working on a contractual basis for the Bengaluru-based company. 

Confirming the layoffs to Business Standard, the company said each associate who has been impacted has been provided with additional compensation of one month and will be part of priority hiring list where they would be given preference to join when a relevant opportunity exists within the system.

“We are also giving a recommendation letter and support wherever possible to find new employment opportunities through our partners. Additionally, associates who are covered under group medical insurance scheme will continue to get medical insurance benefits for an additional period of three months,” said the company in an emailed response.

However, no decision has been taken on laying off permanent employees. “We have been told by the company there will be no layoffs for on-roll employees,” said an Udaan employee on condition of anonymity. 

While the company’s non-essentials business has been completely shut because of the lockdown, which accounts for two-thirds of the company’s revenue, the business for essentials has gone down to 40 per cent, said a source. 

According to reports, several other start-ups such as Swiggy, FabHotels, and Instamojo already have or are going to downsize their staff because of the current economic crisis due to the Covid-19 situation. According to reports, while Swiggy will be reducing the number of its cloud kitchen staff next month, Fab Hotels has fired 80 employees. Bengaluru-based digital payments and services startup Instamojo is also looking at downsizing 6-7 per cent of its total workforce of 140 employees. Several other start-ups such as Oyo, Bounce and MakeMyTrip have implemented salary cuts.