Townhall meetings: How start-ups use jazzy jargon to say 'you are sacked'

After Snapdeal, its mobile wallet company Freecharge too has started firing employees, it is learnt. After Govind Rajan, CEO, FreeCharge, put in his papers, people are being asked to leave. FreeCharge, which has around 200 employees, wants to reduce the staff strength to half in a few weeks, sources said.

The process of giving out pink slips started after, the senior management in the company called all its staff for a “mini-townhall” meeting, where the upcoming changes in the organisation were conveyed, sources said.

Earlier too, townhalls have meant alarm bells at Snapdeal. A year ago, at one such townhall meeting, a young data cruncher had nervously asked CEO Kunal Bahl about job security in the company. The co-founder had replied, “those who do not perform would have to leave”. Since that townhall meeting, Snapdeal has let go of 80 per cent of its workforce, if numbers are compared.

At Tolexo, an online marketplace for business goods and supplies, too, a townhall was called recently to communicate the bad news. Some 300 employees, around 85 per cent of its work force, lost their job due to slowing business after demonetisation. Stayzilla, a homestay and alternate stay aggregator, took the same route of a townhall, before it shut its operations.

The world over, “townhall meetings” have often been used for important announcements. During the heyday of the e-commerce boom in India, such townhalls were used by promoters to give employees good news such as companies securing a fresh round of funding or felicitating people for good job done and business targets met.

Whether it’s a townhall, a fireside chat, burn rate or disruption, these jargons are a part of the new-age business lingo, to differentiate start-ups from old-school industry. The trend of calling townhall meetings to convey downsizing or any other adverse business news, however, started with information technology firms many years earlier.

Pointing out that townhall meetings were used for layoffs in the software industry even as early as 2000, Sreedhar Prasad, partner, e-commerce and start-ups, KPMG India, said, “It is a good thing if promoters come out and clarify to the employees what the problem is and what their vision for the future is.’’

Start-up lingo

Townhall: A meeting between promoters/founders with all the employees

Burn rate/bleeding: The rate at which a company uses up cash for expenses

Boot-strapped: Running the company with own money and having no benefactors

Disruption: Causing a change in the way people work

Exit strategy: The ways you will leave the company

Angels: People who are nice enough to give money and fund the company