Zomato has now announced layoffs of around 520 people, or 13% of its total global strength of nearly 4000 employees, to reduce the economic impact it faced due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.
The Gurgaon based food aggregator, which has operations in more than 24 countries across the globe, also instituted a temporary cut of around 50% for its remaining employees that will come into force from June. The new development by Zomato comes just days after arch-rival Swiggy decided to lay off approx. Nine hundred employees from its cloud kitchen business to overcome the impact of the COVID-19.
People affected by the layoffs will continue to receive around 50% for the next six months or until they get a new job, whichever comes first, along with their current health insurance.
Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal, in an email to Zomato employees explained the latest changes. “Our business has been severely affected by the COVID lockdowns,” he said in the email, a copy of which has been posted in a blog post from Zomato. “A large number of restaurants have already shut down permanently, and we know that this is just the tip of the iceberg.”