Hirect fires 40% workforce as part of strategic changes

As part of organisational restructuring and strategic changes in its business model, Hirect, a chat-based direct-hiring platform for startups, has laid off 40 per cent of its workforce. That means, almost 200 people are being laid off by the startup.

Hirect is a platform that allows recruiters to hire candidates using the app’s inbuilt audio and video calling feature. It focuses more on high-growth startups and small businesses, getting the right talent without any consultants.

The Company, which focuses on the startup segment mainly, seems to be reeling from the slowdown in new hirings.

As per the company’s LinkedIn profile, there are around 472 employees. At its height, the Bengaluru and San Francisco-based startup had about 600 employees in its workforce, as per a report by Mint.

Reportedly, three of the affected employees were asked to quit in mid-October, but they haven’t receive their relieving letters yet. According to these affected employees, the management failed to keep its promises and had failed to provide severance pay and job-search assistance. Additionally, the employees had been asked to move to the Bengaluru office before the layoff.

Meanwhile, the management has said that its topmost priority is to clear the dues of the employees.

Hirect had been aggressively marketing in Gurugram, Noida, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Pune last year at a time when hiring, particularly for tech-based jobs, was a hot subject in the start-up world.

In July, the chat-based direct-hiring platform had joined hands with big brands and multinationals to widen its reach. Initially, Hirect was only catering to startups, but then the Company revamped its website (www.hirect.in) in a completely new format to deliver a better user experience.