NEW DELHI: Leading travel portal EaseMyTrip has reduced its workforce in ‘significant’ numbers, and has asked several employees to take a pay cut or work without pay for a few months as business took a big hit due to the Covid-19 outbreak, said three employees with the company.
The company, however, dismissed the layoff report and said only a small fraction of employees have been asked to go due to non-performance.
“This is to inform you that the news that you have received is completely a misinformation. We do not agree with this story. We did receive some resignation from a few employees, (but) they have mentioned in e-mail that this decision was completely based on their personal choice amidst the fear of coronavirus outbreak. Some employees have been asked by the HR to leave the company due to performance issues,” the company told this publication in a statement.
On the contrary, the three employees said that over a 100 staff from corporate, MICE and holiday teams have been impacted. “Many people have been asked to go and many have been told to work without pay for three-to-four months. I received a mail from the HR a week back, in which I was asked to leave with 15 days notice,” said an employees.
EaseMyTrip is one of the very few profitable digital travel companies and operates out of New Delhi. It claims to have a workforce of around 400 employees. The company had filed draft papers with SEBI last year to float a Rs 510 crore Initial Public Offering, for which it has received green signal from the regulator.
Travel industry has been severally hit due to the pandemic outbreak, due to which the country has gone into total lockdown. Domestic and international flights remain suspended, while hotel bookings have fallen by up to 80 per cent. According to estimates by the Confederation of Indian Industry, the tourism industry stands to lose Rs 5 lakh crore and job cuts for 4-5 crore people (directly and indirectly) due to the pandemic.
Other leading travel and hospitality firms such as MakeMyTrip and OYO Rooms have already announced pay cuts for its leadership team, while FabHotels has laid off over 100 of its employees as a result of its ‘resource optimisation’ exercise.