The decision of quitting high paying corporate jobs to join startups is proving costly for many. With investors pulling back on promises of funding and companies not being able to raise beyond seed funding or Series A funding startups are being shut down resulting in a number of people losing their jobs.
Around 150 employees of HelpChat faced this situation when they were sacked last Saturday without any reason or notice.
Employees believe that the reason behind this is that the company ran out of funds earlier given to it and was not given the promised next round of funds. The company had used up its previous round of funding for hiring more chat experts.
Sushil Jadhav (name changed) had joined Help Chat, a personal assistant app just two months ago. All was going well for the brand expert (the person who chats with customers) until last Saturday.
Like any other day, Sushil came to office on Saturday at 8 am and started to work. At 11 am the human resource (HR) team called Sushil and another few employees. To the dismay of the bewildered staff, the HR manager announced, "We do not need your services from tomorrow. Today will be your last day at work."
Of the incident, Sushil, 25, said, "I was shocked. I initially could not understand whether it was a joke or they were serious. An hour later I came to know that my team leader and assistant manager were served the same notice, and in the same way. The whole day I worked thinking about the sudden announcement. There was complete confusion in the office. I just could not come to terms with it. In the evening, I was again reminded, informally this time, that there was no need for me to come to work the next day."
Sushil was devastated and locked himself in a room for a full day. "A thought constantly came to my mind. I had two job offers, I left the corporate and joined a startup thinking my growth chances at the startup were better. Now I am left jobless. What next? I thought of this the whole day."
On Monday, Sushil got to know that 150 employees were sacked from HelpChat on Saturday. This included 90 brand experts, four assistant managers and 13 team leaders.
None of the employees were given any reason for the action nor time to search for a new job. Mahinder Singh, (name changed), 33, a team leader who was also sacked last week, felt the company had cheated him and his team.
Said Singh, "A week before, I was called and asked to give three names of non-performing members from my team.My team was doing well and getting good feedback from users as well. I asked them on what basis I should name three, but they said just name three. A week later, I too was asked to leave office. My team members were just two months old in the company.They had gone through various levels of interviews and training before starting to work. I left an IT job and came to this startup. What are we to do now?"
Some members who were sacked were independent and had shifted to the city hoping to support themselves with their earnings at the startup.
Nalini R (name changed), 22, said, "My family is not from Bengaluru. I shifted here two months ago hoping I would be independent and support myself. Within two months of my first job, I am jobless. No feedback, no notice, no reason. I asked them if this was due to my performance. We have a performance rating and feedback system in which my rankings were good. The HR told me it was not based on performance but was an internal decision. When we are being sacked I believe, we should at least know the reason. They promise a month's salary as compensation. However, there is no written confirmation of the same. And I am not sure if a month is enough to find a new job."
While the founder admitted that people were sacked, he did not confirm the number. Ankur Singla, cofounder of HelpChat, said, "HelpChat has decided to discontinue its consumer complaints' division in order to focus on personal assistant service with intensive technology-based solutions for superior user experience. Towards this goal, we have made a certain essential team re-alignment and restructuring over the last one month.Currently, we are in a very fast growth stage, and in fact, are striving to close over 40 positions across technology and operations departments this month."
However, employees say that the consumer complaint department was closed two months back and the employees sacked now did not have connection with the department. Sheena Manjunath, a team leader, 29, said, "I had a team that assisted users with their requirements. The company has retracted on every promise of theirs in the last two months.When I joined four months back, I was told I had a workfrom-home option. Two months ago they said that option has been stopped.Earlier, we were forced to work in shifts. Now, they have directly sacked us. As per the contract, I am supposed to be given a one month notice, and if I choose to resign, I need to give a twomonth notice to the company. None of this has been followed. The company has mistreated us. Employees plan to move to court to seek justice."
Not just the employees, ten independent consultants, who were supposed to be made `confirmed' were also detached from the company on Monday. Even achieving prescribed targets did not help. Ahuja Nair (name changed), 25, said, "I was promised if I meet the required rating I would be confirmed. I was sent a written confirmation on the same as well. My feedback clearly shows I have achieved the rating. However, two days before I was supposed to be officially confirmed, I was informed that I am sacked. I have gone through training and a month's work here. If I was to be sacked, why would I have wasted my time and energy in the company? I am given no reason for this and my access to my system was just blocked. There are rumours that the company has run out of its funding and is either going to be shut or sold to someone else."
Recently, a similar situation was witnessed in Dazo, a curated food app, which just shut down. Townrush, a B2B logistic platform witnessed widespread protest outside its premises at HSR Layout for the same reasons. These companies also ran out of funds and faced closure.
Source: Bangalore Mirror
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