380 workers out of Swiggy, CEO explains poor decision to hire more

Swiggy, which takes food delivery orders through the app, has laid off 380 workers as part of the company’s restructuring. Swiggy has attributed this to difficult macroeconomic conditions. However, the company’s co-founder and CEO, Sriharsha Majety, said the company made poor decisions and over-hired.

In an email to the affected workers at the company, Sriharsha apologized to them, saying it was a very difficult decision after considering all the options. He said Swiggy’s growth rate has been below company estimates. He said: “The company needs to rethink indirect cost as it is affecting profitability targets. We have already taken action on other indirect costs like infrastructure and office. We also need to improve overall spending on staff. Most of the hiring in the company was due to bad decisions. I should have done better on this.”

Swiggy has offered affected workers three to six months of cash pay under the Employee Assistance Plan, depending on their grade and length of service with the company. These workers will receive three months of salary or salary of the notice period and 15 days of pay for each year completed in the company together with the balance of paid vacations, whichever is greater.

Swiggy has recently launched an ambulance service to assist its delivery executives and their dependents in an emergency. To use the service, delivery executives need to dial a toll-free number or they can tap SOS in the app in an emergency. Swiggy had reported that the current average response time in the ambulance service is 12 minutes. No documents will be required to use this service. Delivery executives only need to verify their partner ID. Recently, a study by NITI Aayog said that the number of temporary workers in the country is around 77 lakh and by 2029-30 it may increase to around Rs 2.35 crore. These workers include consultants, bloggers, and delivery executives.