Cure.fit lays off 10% of its trainers, other staff; cuts pay across board

Sources also said that, these employees are asked to either resign with effect from May 1 or even by the end of May as an extra month would be added to their work experience if they want

Healthcare startup Cure.fit has laid off 10 per cent of its employees and cut salaries across board, responding to business taking a hit in the coronavirus pandemic. Sources said the Bengaluru-based company had laid off around 500 people.

Trainers, centre managers and human resources personnel were among employees who were either asked to resign from May 1 or allowed to work till the month end for experience, said sources. Cure.fit, which was founded by former Myntra and Facebook top executives Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, is learnt to have deactivated the login of employees the day they were requested to resign.

“The lockdown has affected all our business offerings and we do not see the situation improving for quite some time, considering the pandemic spread has affected all the markets we operate in. This unprecedented situation has forced us to close operations in small towns in India and the UAE," it said in an emailed response.

The company acknowledged the layoffs, but said around 90 per cent of trainers remained with the company who will now work on a fixed-plus variable model. "We have downsized our employee base across markets where we have shut operations and have initiated pay cuts across levels. The founders have taken a 100 per cent pay cut, the management team 50 per cent and the rest of the staff depending on seniority have a reduction of 20 to 30 per cent," it said.

The start-up, which is backed by IDG Ventures and Accel Partners, said that it would provide full assistance in out-placing the laid-off employees while it is also creating an emergency fund of Rs 2 crore to lend support.

According to Crunchbase, the firm has raised $404.6 million across 9 rounds. The latest funding round of $ 110 million was in March where Singapore's state-owned Temasek was the lead investor.

It also runs food delivery services under Eat.fit and launched grocery delivery services last month branded as Whole.fit. One source said the in-house delivery boys and kitchen managers were also laid off.

This development comes as reports suggest that several of the consumer facing internet start-ups including Swiggy, udaan, MakeMyTrip, Fab Hotels, Bounce and many others are seen laying of staff and going for salary reduction to deal with the situation.