Waves of Layoffs Threatens Startups

Clouds are hanging over Indonesia's digital startup industry at the start of 2020. After facing declines in funds inflow, layoffs threats are now overshadowing startup employees.

It is RedDoorz's turn this time, the virtual hotel operator (VHO) dismissed around 50 employees from its office. Reddoorz Public Relations Manager, Puji Agung Budiman, said the dismissal of dozens of employees was on the back of periodic performance appraisals. The layoffs will be effective starting February 11, 2020. "Their key performance indicators are low. It's not the company that underperforms, but its employees," he said, as quoted by Bisnis Indonesia.

In early February 2020, RedDoorz's competitor, OYO Hotels, also fired 3,000 employees in India, the United States, and China on the back of aiming for sustainable growth. The waves of layoffs will likely spread to Indonesia, where OYO operates 2,000 hotels across 100 cities. Meanwhile, Bukalapak and Gojek had also reduced their staffs. Gojek was somewhat different as it "dismissed" GoLife service partners.