YesMadam criticised over purported email on firing of stressed staff; 'social media posts were planned effort,' says company

New Delhi: Online beauty services platform YesMadam drew flak on Monday after a purported internal email leaked on social media suggesting the termination of those staff who had indicated workplace stress with many dubbing it a marketing gimmick for a possible campaign.

Following the uproar on social media, the home salon services company on Tuesday released a statement, stating that it was a social media campaign designed to highlight "the serious issue of workplace stress".

"No one was fired at YesMadam," read the statement. "We sincerely apologise for any distress caused by recent social media posts suggesting we dismissed employees for being stressed. Let us be clear: we would never take such an inhuman step."

"In today's hyper-connected world, work-life boundaries are fading, stress is widespread, and productivity often overshadows employee wellbeing... Happy employees build stronger businesses, and we're here to lead the way in creating a culture that reflects this belief," the statement said.

The company has also announced its new "de-stress leave policy," under which employees can take six days of paid leave to de-stress and receive a complimentary spa session at home.

On Monday, Anushka Dutta, whose LinkedIn profile identifies her as a UX copywriter at the company ,attached a screenshot which shows a mail from the company's HR official.

In a post, she said, "What's happening at YesMadam? First you conduct a random survey and then fire us overnight because we're feeling stressed?"

Internet users, however, were skeptical and speculated of the post's legitimacy, terming it as a publicity stunt.

"Looking at Yes Madam's marketing trends this looks like a campaign. The virality of these firing posts set a good ground to launch "corporate packages for a de-stress massage" or something. Plus they're a human resource heavy business, eliminating 100s of employees is contradictory to their ongoing rapid scaling. Controversial Marketing at its best," a user wrote on X.

An ex-employee told PTI that whatever is happening appears to be a marketing stunt.

Another netizen took a funny dig on the issue and said, "Does Yes Madam's marketing team know that there are 113 days until April 1st".

Noida-headquartered YesMadam secured investments from Lenskart's Peyush Bansal, Sugar's Vineeta Singh, OYO's Ritesh Aggarwal and boAt's Aman Gupta on Shark Tank India.

However, some claimed that the company had indeed resorted to layoffs in the recent past albeit for reasons other than workplace stress.

Another former employee pointed towards long work hours and said that employees are forced to work even on weekends and off days.