Wish to lay off workers without fuss? Here is a startup for that

Team Udayavani, Aug 21, 2022, 9:40 AM IST

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As Big Tech, unicorns and startups lay off employees across the spectrum amid the economic downturn, here comes a startup that is offering layoff support, making the firing process smooth, strategic and as ‘humane’ as possible.

US-based startup Continuum charges services for layoff support depending upon the number of employees that the company has, TechCrunch reported.

For startups with 20 to 100 full-time employees, it would charge a one-time fee of $10,000 to lay off any number of workers.

‘If a startup is between 100 to 250 full-time employees, any workforce reduction will cost $20,000,’ the report mentioned.

With the layoff support, each startup gets one hour of consultation for free, and then pay accordingly the size of the current headcount.

‘If you really think about where these have gone wrong, all you have to do is look at Better.com. The CEO talks about himself, does the mass firing on Zoom, no individual communication a a total disaster,’ said said Continuum CEO Nolan Church.

Online mortgage firm Better.com came under fire after its CEO, Vishal Garg, fired around 900 workers via a single Zoom call in December.

‘If you run a layoff poorly, you still have a team that you have to re-motivate and orient on where the future is going for the company,’ Church was quoted as saying.

Continuum also allows companies to hire seasoned executives part-time to provide expert advice on how to handle worker layoffs.

The startup handles all payments, including contracts, invoices, payouts and taxes for the executive hired by the customer.

The company claimed that within 48 hours, a customer will be matched with an executive who has previously solved that exact problem.

Continuum in July raised $12 million in its Series A funding led by Pelion Ventures with participation from Uncork Capital, Day One Ventures and investors including the CEOs of DoorDash, Divvy and Thumbtack.

At least half of the companies worldwide are planning to lay off people, most are reducing bonuses and rescinding job offers amid the economic downturn, a new report has warned.

According to the latest PwC report, 50 per cent of respondents in the US are reducing their overall headcount, even as business leaders remain concerned about hiring and retaining talent.

More than 32,000 tech workers have been laid off in the US till July, including at Big Tech companies like Microsoft and Meta (formerly Facebook), and the worst has not been over yet for the tech sector that has seen massive stock sell-off.

In India, more than 25,000 startup workers have lost jobs since the pandemic began — and more than 12,000 have been fired this year.

IANS