Singapore’s thriving tech trade, as soon as hailed as a beacon of progress and innovation, has been hit onerous by the tech winter. 

This downturn within the tech sector has compelled a number of distinguished firms, together with e-commerce large 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 workers who have been affected by the downsizing on the firm spoke concerning the layoff course of and shared regarding particulars concerning the firm’s work tradition. 

Second layoff for the corporate this yr

Based on the affected workers, the layoffs came about in late June and have been dealt with in an analogous 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 transient, mentioning that particular people had “graduated” and wishing them the most effective. 

Nonetheless, the layoffs weren’t communicated to the broader firm. 

Whereas the precise variety of workers affected by the current layoffs stays unverified, it’s estimated to be round 20 to 30 workers. This comes after an earlier spherical of layoffs in Could, which reportedly impacted at the least 50 workers. 

Circles.Life, which presently has almost 1,000 workers in accordance with LinkedIn, noticed varied departments affected, together with Advertising and marketing, P&C, Engineering, Product, and your complete B2B Circles X workforce. 

Affected workers have been apparently supplied with the usual severance bundle – a two-month discover interval and gardening depart – relying on their length of employment. 

Based on the sources, the layoffs weren’t restricted to simply the Singapore workplace, but additionally prolonged throughout the area, affecting your complete Australia advertising workforce, together with its Head of Advertising and marketing. 

In addition they attributed the downsizing resolution to numerous components, resembling value effectivity, underperformance of the Circles X enterprise, a decline in subscribers attributable to market forces and competitors, in addition to poor service. 

“Circles X is failing as a product. A variety 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 attributable to “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, your complete Circles X workforce has been decreased from a workforce of about 30 folks to simply 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 workforce tradition”. 

The staff 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 workers usually working late whereas their managers have been unavailable, solely to have their work introduced by the supervisor to the founder. 

The staff 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 resembling 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 Put up’s inquiries concerning 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”. 

Nonetheless, the ex-employees confirmed their “settlement of separation and launch” from the corporate to Vulcan Put up, contradicting the spokesperson’s assertion. 

Different affected workers that Vulcan Put up reached out to up to now stated that they’re unable to touch upon the matter as they’re “underneath NDA (non-disclosure settlement)”. 

Featured Picture Credit score: Circles.Life