The pandemic has robbed many people of their livelihood. Even the scooter-rental platform, Bounce, has laid off almost 22 per cent of its workforce, that is, approximately 130 employees, in a second round of layoffs.
The co-founder and CEO of Bounce has admitted to the media that the decision was a difficult one and taken after several discussions with the senior management. The Company will offer health insurance to the impacted employees until December 2020. It will also provide a severance package of three months’ salary, and those who possess company stocks will be allowed to redeem them on a pro-rata basis.
This is not the first time that the platform has laid off its employees. Just before the announcement of the first phase of lockdown, the management had let go about 120 employees, mostly from middle and senior levels, as part of cost-cutting measures.
Amidst the lockdown, the founders of the Company had taken a 100 per cent salary cut in a bid to conserve capital and sustain the business. The staff had also sacrificed 20 to 60 per cent of their salaries in April. The laid off employees, however, will receive all pending salaries, including the entire salary for April.
In the last 18 months, the six-year old mobility startup had grown rapidly, from a few hundred rides a day to more than 25 million rides in the city of Bangalore alone.
