MFine, India’s first digital health platform, laid off 75% of its employees in May, making it one of the most challenging and sad months for an e-commerce firm. The action was disclosed in a letter to employees from the company’s founders, stating 500+ employees across data science, engineering, and product areas are fired. But why such a large layoff? How did it affect both the employees and the company?
Who is MFine?
MFine is a digital primary healthcare platform that provides on-demand services like professional diagnostics and health screenings. Since its inception in 2017, MFine has revolutionised the primary healthcare industry. It aimed to make good health more accessible, reliable, and hassle-free for everyone. The company is driven by a passion for providing care, spurred by a focus on quality, and guided by artificial intelligence.
The healthcare startup raised about $97 million Series C funding from Moore Strategic Ventures and BEENEXT, among others. Providing telemedicine services including primary, secondary, and chronic care, it had 300,000 monthly transactions as of March 2022.
But, MFine, which was set to change the course of digital healthcare, had to lay off hundreds of its employees and close its offices suddenly? Let us see why.
The MFine Layoff:
More than 100 employees protested outside MFine’s Bengaluru office, asking that they be paid in full for May and that their entire and final payment be released sooner rather than later. Because the startup ran out of money to pay salaries, it laid off about 75% of its staff, over 500 people, on Friday, 20th May. Employees were taken aback by the layoff, as they were expecting an appraisal and had no notion that the firm had run out of money.
MFine initially stated that it would pay 20 days’ compensation in May and the remaining salary would be refunded in the next 60 days, based on the applicable notice period. However, disgruntled employees are demanding MFine pay them 30 days’ income in the next 30 or 45 days and pay the notice period remuneration.
An employee said, “After 60 days if we don’t get paid, to whom will we approach? Two offices are already shut. This office is likely to be shut soon.”
Not only this, but Employees are also requesting that their incentive payments be paid for the month, in addition to their 30-day income. This includes both the redemption of accrued leaves and the processing of pending vouchers. After hours of demonstrating outside the office, two employees were allowed to go inside to discuss the situation.
Several employees said they were fired without warning and threatened with legal action until they submitted their resignation papers. Furthermore, after announcing layoffs, management restricted employees from accessing internal data and ceased delivering payslips, all at a time when people needed to locate new jobs.
Employees stated they felt trouble because the company was struggling, but the main management team told them that everything would be great.
A lot of employees came forward to tell the stories from their side on how much they had to go through in just the last few days. One employee from the sales team said that MFine had already been firing employees in small batches since October last year, and the reason given for firing them was poor performance, which was hard to believe seeing the number of people being fired and their dedication, yet they had to face the criticism they never deserved.
Employees are currently afraid and suspicious of being named in the media. They believe that if a corporation can mercilessly remove its employees, it may also leave negative comments about those individuals during background checks by future employers.
According to numerous employees, MFine devised ways to assist laid-off staff in finding new jobs, but the bulk of them declined since they had lost faith in the company.
On 19th May, MFine requested the staff to check in from home, citing an orange alert issued by the India Meteorological Department due to heavy rain in Bengaluru. Laid off staff consider it a premeditated activity. As a result, employees believe that layoff preparations have been fermenting at the high management level for some time.
MFine Layoff Employees Feel Helplessness and Agony
Laying off more than 500 employees in a matter of few days after promising a future in the healthcare industry, have left these employees nothing but helpless. The employees demand the company take full responsibility and provide the employees with compensation for the damage done on their part in terms of job security, salary and career. The dedicated employees deserve the justice they want.
Support and assurance from the company can go a long way to lift the morale of employees in this difficult time.
