Over the past two years or so, several Internet-based companies in Singapore and overseas have unfortunately laid off their staff.
They include food delivery platform foodpanda, which retrenched about 5% of its Singapore-based staff in September 2022.
Sadly, the carnage didn’t stop then — they have reportedly laid off more staff across the Asia-Pacific.
Affected staff will get a severance package, among other forms of support.
Citing an email they had allegedly seen, The Business Times (BT) reported that foodpanda’s Asia-Pacific Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jakob Angele delivered the sad news.
The message, which was sent to staff on Thursday (21 Sep), allegedly said that the company had to become “leaner, more efficient and even more agile”.
Source: Jakob Sebastian Angele on LinkedIn
Thus, it was necessary to streamline operations to “take on a more structured approach” in the future.
Foodpanda will review its regional as well as national organisational structure by shifting the supervisors to whom staff report. It will also streamline certain functions into regional teams, he added.
Mr Angele didn’t specify how many foodpanda employees in Singapore or the Asia-Pacific region the layoffs affect.
He did say, however, that those who are laid off will get a severance package based on length of service and/or their countries’ statutory guidelines.
They will also enjoy gardening leave with full pay and benefits, as well as extended medical insurance, among other forms of support.
These measures are at least on par with or above market standards, he maintained.
The CEO also apologised for the layoffs, acknowledging that they were “very tough” and affected all his staff, adding,
I am truly sorry we have to put everyone through this.
A foodpanda spokesperson told The Straits Times (ST) that they will focus on “supporting impacted colleagues through this difficult time” in the near future.
They are grateful for the contributions of these colleagues and are “extremely sorry” they’re leaving.
Source: Google Maps
However, the spokesperson also declined to reveal how many employees were affected in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific.
Foodpanda’s latest round of cuts comes about one year after they retrenched 5% of their Singapore-based headcount.
In September 2022, the company reportedly let go of about 60 employees. Its Berlin-based parent company Delivery Hero made the “painful decision” to downsize some teams as it moved to become profitable on an operational level, they said.
Since then, foodpanda also retrenched a number of employees in February, reported BT.
In his email, Mr Angele didn’t bring up the reported sale of the company.
Just days ago, German business magazine WirtschaftsWoche reported that Delivery Hero intended to sell foodpanda’s operations in seven Southeast Asian countries, including Singapore.
On Wednesday (20 Sep), the company told WirtschaftsWoche that preliminary negotiations for a potential sale in these countries were underway.
Interestingly, a potential buyer of foodpanda’s Southeast Asian business is reportedly Singapore-headquartered competitor Grab.
The magazine quoted an insider who claimed that Grab has already started the process of reviewing foodpanda’s operations.
If the sale goes through, Grab may pay upwards of €1 billion (S$1.4 billion) for the rival company’s branches in each of the countries.
At the time of writing, Grab has yet to publicly address this matter.
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Featured adapted image from Jakob Sebastian Angele on LinkedIn.
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