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American company’s COO lays off ‘Indian workforce’ over 4-minute work call: ‘He wasn’t taking any questions’
An employee alleged that a US-based company fired most of its Indian workforce without any prior intimation and over a very short call.
A Reddit post by an Indian about getting laid off suddenly over a call has prompted people to help the employee find a new job. In a post, the employee of a US-based company shared about being fired with “no prior intimation.”
The employee explained about working from home for an American company. Talking about the layoff, the worker said, “I work from home for a US based company and it was literally like any other day. I woke up at 8:30, logged into work at 9 and saw a calendar invite for 11. It was a mandatory meeting with our COO for all India employees. I joined it at 11, he joined at 11:01, disabled everyone’s cameras and mics, casually let us know that they had ‘made the difficult decision of letting most of their Indian work force go’ and that ‘it wasn’t a performance based assessment but just due to internal organisational restructuring’.”
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The COO allegedly informed everyone that if someone was fired, they would receive an email, and then he dropped out of the meeting after refusing to answer any questions.
“No prior intimation, no time to prepare. They have offered October’s salary to paid at the end of the month and any leaves would be encashed. None of it even remotely makes up for what I’m feeling right now. This is the first time I’ve been laid off and it just truly f**king s**cks,” the employee continued.
What did social media say?
“Sorry to hear this, man. I see from your previous comment that you're in the media Industry. Let me know if you'd be comfortable working in financial services. I'm not sure how much this will help, but I could refer, if that works,” an individual posted. The OP responded, “If they would be open to hiring someone with no experience in financial services, I’m so down.”
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Another suggested, “Sorry to hear this. I can understand how you must be feeling. I was laid off a couple of years ago, and I was devastated for months. Just understand that it’s not your fault, and almost everyone gets laid off at least once in their careers. It took me a few months to get back on my feet, but I got a job that I love now. Take this opportunity to see what you want to do next. It could be what you have been doing or something else entirely. Don’t be discouraged, you will come out stronger because of this. Reach out to your network or start building new connections that will get you that next role.”
A third remarked, “This is just sad. OP, you deserve a workplace where you are valued and respected, and I hope you can land a better opportunity soon!” A fourth wrote, “Layoffs are the absolute worst thing. I’ve been laid off twice, and those voices are still in my head. And the way these layoffs are done is absolutely brutal, you’ll be kicked from all repositories, Slack and become an enemy of the company all of a sudden. It scares me to date. I wish there were strong laws to whip the a**es of these companies. Sure, laying off employees is a part, but do it with respect."
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)
