US grocery and retail technology company Hy-Vee has abruptly closed its India engineering centre, cutting around 150 jobs in a late-night Microsoft Teams call. The layoffs, part of a wider restructuring effort, came without prior notice, leaving employees stunned.
According to accounts shared online, the entire engineering team was informed at 9 p.m. that their roles were being eliminated. Many had joined the company less than two years ago, some starting as interns before moving into full-time roles. Despite their tenure, workers reportedly did not receive any details of compensation package at the time, describing the experience as one of the hardest moments of their careers.
Amit Goel, Hy-Vee’s director of engineering in India, confirmed the closure in a LinkedIn post. He noted that the team had been carefully assembled in recent months, with hires from leading firms such as Amazon and Myntra. Goel praised the engineers’ skills and urged industry contacts to help them find new opportunities.
The incident sparked debate across social media. Some users pointed out that while severance is discretionary, companies are legally required to provide notice period salary. Others expressed disbelief that Hy-Vee, which employs nearly 20,000 people globally, had shuttered its India unit so suddenly. Comments ranged from sympathy and encouragement to practical advice, with many urging affected employees to regroup and move forward.
With growing uncertainty in the tech sector, such restructuring moves are increasingly leaving workers vulnerable.
5 Comments
Here is the sequence of events before the announcement was made. I was on a photography trip to Africa when the teams call happened.
India Site Head made to sign a NDA one week before the announcement of the shutdown.
India Site Head shares information with select members of the leadership team.
Frantic calls made by the Core IT Head on the weekend before the shutdown after hearing the news of the shutdown.
The Director of Product Managemet In India starts making calls to Product Managers in India indication that they must search for a new job on the weekend before the announcement.
The CORE IT SVP in the US cancels calls with The CORE IT AVP in India and declines approval for Internet for the coming month which sets of further alarm bells.
10 min call happens in India at 9 PM indicating shutdown and immediate access termination leaving employees frantically searching for Answers.
List shared last week with employees for the Asset collection with slots given to every employee basis an alphabetic order of their surname.
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Sateesh M
Director Operations
It was already on a path of decline when much of the leadership from Cerner came in and began centralizing decision-making. That shift significantly changed the culture and direction of the organization.
Interesting that you managed to gather all of this information while you were busy photographing in Africa. Is throwing people under the bus considered a cultural exchange program now?
Lalitha, previous site head had done a great damage that no one could recover from it. Even Hy-Vee US saked her and then HR business, it seems difficult to recover or regain their trust which could be one of the reason for shutting down. They might felt that India leadership from Cerner cant be trusted.
In my opinion, the decline started much earlier. The previous India site leadership made several decisions that significantly impacted the engineering organization and employee morale. By the time the shutdown happened, it seemed the trust of the US leadership had already eroded, making recovery extremely difficult. Ultimately, it was the employees who paid the price for leadership failures.
I also don’t understand the urgency behind ending the ANSR contract and setting up a standalone office before all the necessary operational support functions were fully established. From my perspective, there also appeared to be a greater reliance on personal networks during hiring than on candidates’ capabilities in some cases. If true, that approach can have long-term consequences for an organization’s culture and performance.