Two co-founders of a Bengaluru-based startup announced on Wednesday that more than a dozen employees will be laid off. The layoffs at Fam were necessitated due to a shift in focus from hyper-growth to sustainability, Sambhav Jain explained on X (formerly Twitter).
However, the co-founder of the fintech app requested recruiters to contact them on DM to hire the fired staff. Kush Taneja also retweeted Jain’s tweet and offered to help the ‘Famstars’ in finding new employment.
Calling it a ‘difficult’ decision for the ‘people-first’ organisation, Jain wrote, “One of the most difficult things to do as a founder is to let people go. Today was a tough day as we had to let go 18 members of the Fam across functions. Parting ways is never easy, especially for a people-first organisation like ours, where everyone is emotionally connected.”
He added that apart from developing Fam, he and Taneja were ‘most proud’ of the team they have built over the years. Jain highlighted that they were unable to offer the affected employees positions that ‘enhance their personal growth and give joy at work’.
“Given the shift in focus of the company from hyper-growth to sustainability, we wouldn’t have been able to provide these people with a role in the company that could justify their personal growth, could fuel the fire to their passion, and most importantly joy at work,” he said.
Wishing the sacked staff good luck, Jain expressed his confidence in them doing amazing things in future. “We have all the compassion for them and are confident that these people will build amazing things wherever they go, and wish everyone the best in life.” He concluded the X thread by stating that he’ll be glad to share relevant profiles for those on the lookout for people in EPD and Growth functions.
Taneja also tweeted, “Today was an extremely sad day for us as 18 of our FamStars had to leave. We are forever grateful for their contributions in building the Fam! Please DM if you are looking for super passionate and extraordinary folks for your team.”
The X post received mixed reactions from users with one saying that a company can’t call itself ‘people-first’ if they lay off employees amid a ‘fund crunch’. The user wrote, “As a business, people are hired and fired but don’t call yourself ‘people-first’ or ‘family’ if the first thing you do when funding shrinks is firing people…a Family doesn’t throw out its members when ration is less.””
Is it fair to expect passion from your team when they can get laid off for no fault of theirs? And then build the same passion for their next role? Commenting on the overuse of ‘passion’ in corporate speak,” added another user.
However, one user expressed his intent to hire and replied, “I am sure Fampay will come out stronger. We are hiring. Not able to DM you – apparently only blue tick users can DM you. Can we connect?”
Several startups, including Meesho, Unacademy, and Swiggy, have fired nearly 500-1000 employees each in 2023 alone.
