Singapore’s thriving tech trade, as soon as hailed as a beacon of progress and innovation, has been hit exhausting by the tech winter.
This downturn within the tech sector has compelled a number of distinguished firms, together with e-commerce big Shopee and tremendous app Seize, to implement important layoffs. The most recent firm to affix this wave is digital telco Circles.Life.
A number of staff who have been affected by the downsizing on the firm spoke in regards to the layoff course of and shared regarding particulars in regards to the firm’s work tradition.
Second layoff for the corporate this 12 months
Based on the affected staff, the layoffs happened in late June and have been dealt with in an identical method to a earlier spherical of layoffs in 2020.
Staff have been knowledgeable by way of particular person conferences dubbed “fast sync” with their line managers, whereas some acquired bodily letters or emails on the day itself. The announcement itself was temporary, mentioning that particular people had “graduated” and wishing them one of the best.
Nevertheless, the layoffs weren’t communicated to the broader firm.
Whereas the precise variety of staff affected by the latest layoffs stays unverified, it’s estimated to be round 20 to 30 staff. This comes after an earlier spherical of layoffs in Could, which reportedly impacted not less than 50 staff.
Circles.Life, which presently has practically 1,000 staff in accordance with LinkedIn, noticed numerous departments affected, together with Advertising and marketing, P&C, Engineering, Product, and all the B2B Circles X group.
Affected staff have been apparently supplied with the usual severance bundle – a two-month discover interval and gardening go away – relying on their period of employment.
Based on the sources, the layoffs weren’t restricted to only the Singapore workplace, but additionally prolonged throughout the area, affecting all the Australia advertising and marketing group, together with its Head of Advertising and marketing.
In addition they attributed the downsizing resolution to numerous components, similar to price effectivity, underperformance of the Circles X enterprise, a decline in subscribers on account of market forces and competitors, in addition to poor service.
“Circles X is failing as a product. Plenty of their partnership offers have been supposed to shut however didn’t, and Circles.Life as a telco is dropping market share alarmingly,” stated one ex-employee.
Co-founder Abhishek Gupta, who beforehand headed the division, confronted challenges because the enterprise didn’t meet expectations. Out of the quite a few partnership offers that have been slated to shut by the primary quarter of 2023, just one was efficiently closed.
Throughout a townhall, the corporate allegedly talked about that on account of “investor stress”, Gupta was “elevated to non-executive director”.
“His workplace was totally vacated on the finish of the day, and transformed into a gathering room,” stated one other ex-employee.
Following Gupta’s departure, all the Circles X group has been decreased from a group of about 30 individuals to only 5 people.
“Poisonous administration and a horrible work tradition”
The ex-employees additionally expressed issues about Circles.Life as an organization, describing it as having a “poisonous administration core” and a “horrible work and group tradition”.
The workers cited examples of “open gaslighting”, intimidation and threats – “banging tables and shouting/berating in public could be very rampant” – in addition to “energy taking part in”.
The work tradition was stated to prioritise sacrificing private lives and relaxation time, with junior staff typically working late whereas their managers have been unavailable, solely to have their work offered by the supervisor to the founder.
The workers additionally talked about discriminatory hiring practices, lack of processes, and poor communication throughout all ranges.
“The eNPS (Worker Web Promoter Rating) have been tanking for some time now. P&C have tried all types of initiatives similar to free meals, nameless surveys, townhalls, and announcement of a brand new workplace, however there’s no use,” stated an ex-employee.
In response to Vulcan Publish’s inquiries in regards to the layoff, a spokesperson from Circles.Life refuted the claims. “There have been no layoffs at Circles,” she stated, and dismissed the remarks as “unfaithful”.
Nevertheless, the ex-employees confirmed their “settlement of separation and launch” from the corporate to Vulcan Publish, contradicting the spokesperson’s assertion.
Different affected staff that Vulcan Publish reached out to up to now stated that they’re unable to touch upon the matter as they’re “below NDA (non-disclosure settlement)”.
Featured Picture Credit score: Circles.Life
