Around 80 employees in India were reportedly laid off by US-based financial services company Bluevine during a five-minute online meeting, according to a social media post by a former employee.
In a post titled “Lost our jobs in an online meeting,” the former employee said the team had been instructed to work from home that day for “operational reasons.” Several hours after starting their evening shift, however, the entire team was suddenly asked to join an online meeting.
The employee said senior officials informed them during the meeting that the company was terminating its entire customer service team in India.
“I was a member of a US bank’s customer service team until yesterday,” the employee wrote, adding that the team had begun its 6:30pm shift and was called into the meeting at around 9:30pm.
According to the employee, all 80 workers were dismissed.
“Eighty employees are out. Eighty families are affected because of a five-minute meeting,” the former worker wrote.
The employee also expressed disappointment over the sudden job losses, saying workers had continued to work hard because of fears of losing their jobs, only to be dismissed without prior warning.
The post drew widespread attention on social media. When asked by a user which company had carried out the layoffs, the employee identified it as Bluevine.
Bluevine is a US-based digital banking and financial services company that provides business banking, payments, lending and other financial services, particularly to small businesses.
The former employee claimed the layoffs were justified on the grounds that the India-based team had failed to deliver the expected results. The employee disputed that explanation, alleging that employee turnover and time wastage were higher among the US-based team, while Indian workers had consistently put in their best efforts because of concerns about job security.
However, the allegations could not be independently verified. It was also unclear whether Bluevine had issued any statement explaining the reported layoffs or the decision to dismiss the 80 employees together.
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