According to a report in Bloomberg, SoftBank-backed Oyo Hotels is in the process of handing out pink slips to thousands of employees in India and China. The company has let go of 5 percent of its 12,000 employees in China due to non-performance.
This amounts to around 600 employees in the Chinese unit. Meanwhile, in India, Oyo is dismissing 12 percent of its 10,000 employees, which is around 1,200 workers. The company plans to shed another 1,200 in India over the next three to four months, the person added. stated the Bloomberg report.
In a statement, Oyo said, “We continue to be one of the best places to work for and one of the key reasons for this has been our ability to consistently evaluate, reward and recognize the performance of individuals in a meritocratic manner, and enable them to improve their performance.”
This downsizing is another setback for Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank, whose portfolio has been buffeted by recent trouble at WeWork and slumping share prices at Slack Technologies and Uber Technologies. The billionaire has called for greater financial discipline among the founders in his portfolio, spurring job cuts at smaller outfits like Zume Pizza. Other SoftBank investees, including Getaround, Wag Labs, Fair, and Brandless, have had to cut staff or change business models once it became apparent revenue and profits were not living up to their once-grand ambitions.
Hotel owners in China have been protesting outside its offices accusing the firm of violating contractual agreements. Oyo had said that it would enhance communications with hotel owners and develop owner loyalty this year. The company said that it would ensure that the interests and needs of the hotels as well as of the company are equally taken into account.
