MakeMyTrip announced that it is laying off about 350 employees due to the global travel ban because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gurugram based, online travel aggregator MakeMyTrip is laying off around 350 employees, or 10% of its workforce, citing business slowdown due to the global travel restrictions to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Group Executive Chairman Deep Kalra and Group CEO Rajesh Magow have written to employees, saying that they have analyzed the impact closely over the last two months and spent time thinking about business recovery.
It has “become clear that certain lines of business are deeply affected than others,” they said. The company has taken the “inevitable decision” of rightsizing the workforce in businesses.
“Over the past two months, we have analysed the impact closely and have spent considerable time thinking about the path to business recovery. As a result, it’s become clear that there are certain lines of business that are deeply affected and will take much longer than the others to recover. As we revisited some of our strategies, it is evident that the pandemic has changed the context and viability of some of our business lines,” said Rajesh Magow, CEO, in an email to employees.
“The staff rationalisation we have had to undertake is mapped to our future business strategy,” Kalra and Magow said.
They say that they have “tried to offer support including Mediclaim coverage for individuals and their families till the end of the year, leave encashment, gratuity, retaining the right to exercise part of RSUs as applicable, retention of company laptops and outplacement support apart from salary payments as per their notice periods”.
The Indian job market has been witnessing layoffs since the beginning of the crisis with more than 10,000 employees being laid off only from the tech industry. The travel industry is an entirely different story. Companies like OYO, TravelTriangle, and Fareportal have handed pink slips to a large number of employees and more job cuts are expected.