- A US company’s COO fired most of its Indian workforce in a 4-minute call.
- Cameras and mics were disabled, and employees were given no chance to ask questions.
- Workers were promised October salary and encashment of leaves.
- Affected employee shared his story on Reddit, receiving sympathy and job referrals.
Social media users criticized the “brutal” way layoffs were handled and called for better laws.An employee working for a US-based company alleged that he and several others in India were suddenly fired during a brief online call. The story came to light after a worker shared his experience on Reddit, sparking sympathy and support from social media users.
from gurgaon
The employee explained that he was working from home as usual when the unexpected meeting invite arrived. “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 workforce go’ and that ‘it wasn’t a performance-based assessment but just due to internal organisational restructuring’.”
According to the employees, the COO added that those affected would receive an email with further details. After that, he exited the meeting without answering any questions. The worker said this left everyone shocked and unprepared. “No prior intimation, no time to prepare. They have offered October’s salary to be 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 fking scks,” he wrote.
The post gained attention online, with several people offering words of support and even job referrals. One individual wrote, “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.”
The employee replied, “If they would be open to hiring someone with no experience in financial services, I’m so down.”
Others shared their own layoff stories to reassure him. One user commented, “I was laid off a couple of years ago, and I was devastated for months… Don’t be discouraged, you will come out stronger.” Another added, “Layoffs are the absolute worst thing… The way these layoffs are done is absolutely brutal… I wish there were strong laws to whip the a**es of these companies.”
This brutal decision to lay off Indian employees comes during the debate on the H1-B visa fee hike.
