Noida-based start-up YesMadam became the topic of discussion on November 9 after a screenshot of a mail by the company’s HR claimed that they fired their employees due to stress.
Now, the company shared on a LinkedIn post that they are actually not firing any employee. As per the company, the social media post was a planned effort to highlight issues of workplace stress.
“And to those who shared angry comments or voiced strong opinions, we say thank you. When people speak up, it shows they care, and care is at the heart of our business,” the company highlighted in a LinkedIn post.
Just to recap: a screenshot of an email shared by the company’s HR on November 9 mentioned that the company had conducted a stress survey. Post this, those employees who were found to be extremely stressed were fired. The e-mail by the company HR, Ashu Arora Jha, says, “To ensure that no one remains stressed at work, we have made the difficult decision to part ways with employees who indicated significant stress.”
The company also mentioned that the layoff would be effective immediately. Post this, netizens flooded social media platforms with criticism about the move. Anushka Dutta, a UX copywriter at the Noida-based start-up, also shared the e-mail and wrote on LinkedIn, “First you conduct a random survey and then fire us overnight because we're feeling stressed? And not just me; 100 other people have been fired too.”
De-Stress Policy
Now, the company has clarified in its post that the employees were not asked to let go but to relax. As a result, the company has highlighted that they came up with a new program called Happy2Heal. The intent of the program is to offer spa and head massage at the workplace to relax the employees. Further, the Noida-based start-up has come up with a de-stress policy that they claim is India’s first. Under the initiative, employees can get 6 days of leave annually to de-stress. Additionally, employees will get complimentary spa sessions at home.
“We firmly believe that the backbone of any great organization is built on stressed shoulders but happy minds,” the company claimed on a social media post.
Soon after this announcement, many social media users criticized this move and called it bad PR. “Absolutely loathe how you took an actual humane issue and exploited it as another marketing stunt to launch a service,” wrote a social media user on LinkedIn. Meanwhile, some have asked as to why the mail was shared in the first place and if it is damage control. It will be interesting to note how the company navigates through this debate.
