Harsh Pokharna, the CEO of OkCredit
Credit: LinkedIn/Harsh Pokharna
"18 months ago, we laid off 70 people," wrote Bengaluru based CEO and explaining in depth how it went with the company 'owning to their mistake".
Harsh Pokharna, the CEO of OkCredit took to his official LinkedIn account and shared that the company had laid off 70 people; however, they helped them secure a job elsewhere.
OkCredit is getting praise for handling the situation so well and thinking about the employees.
"We were burning too much. Hired too fast. It was our mistake. And we owned it," the post read.
Noting it as one of the hardest things he has ever done, Pokharna however tried to 'do it the right way'.
The company spoke to each of the 70 people, personally, and let them know what went wrong. They told them why this decision was taken and how they would be supported, he wrote in the post.
"We gave them 3 months' notice. Helped with referrals, intros, job leads - anything that could help," the post read.
He mentioned that 67 out of the 70 got placed before their notice period ended, and the three who did not get placed anywhere, were given two months of extra salary.
Further, he spoke about the scenario where many employees are laid off, but do not receive any support.
"Over 120,000 people were laid off this year. And many of them didn't even get a call. Some found out through a blocked email. Some were just removed from Slack in the middle of the day. That's inhuman," Pokharna wrote.
"If you call someone 'family' while hiring them, treat them like family when letting them go too," he added.
The post since shared has garnered over 6000 likes and comments, many praising Pokharna.
"Such a powerful reminder of what it means to be a true leader. Layoffs are tough, but how you handle them can say a lot about the values you stand by," a user commented.
"Respect for handling it the right way. More leaders should follow this example," a second user wrote.
A third user commented, "That is such a mature and respectful way to deal with people."
OkCredit is a mobile application that helps micro businesses collect their receivables faster and pay their payables on time, as per their LinkedIn profile.