Continuing the unfortunate trend of COVID-19 impacting job security everywhere, When I Work has announced a 35% reduction of its full-time staff. Chad Halvorson, When I Work Founder and CEO, said the driving force behind the layoffs was the closure of many of its clients as a result of social distancing, working from home, and stay-at-home orders.
“Barbershops, restaurants, dry cleaners, museums, retail stores, salons, waterparks, hotels, sneaker shops, clothing boutiques, and countless other businesses have all been forced to close their doors,” Halvorson said in a release. “As a result, many of the 60,000 businesses we serve have reluctantly suspended, canceled, or downgraded their When I Work accounts. We expect that some of this is temporary, but it is impossible to predict how much.”
“…we look forward to being reunited with many of our team members and customers in the future.” — Chad Halvorson, When I Work Founder and CEO
In the announcement, Halvorson said When I Work was doing, “everything we can to give our employees a soft landing…” and that, “we look forward to being reunited with many of our team members and customers in the future.” We’ve reached out to the company for details on what that “soft landing” looks like and if there is a hire-back program in place and will update when we’re provided any details.
Founded in 2010, When I Work provides businesses with an employee scheduling and communication platform.
Update: We’ve received more information about the layoffs from When I Work. 55 full-time and eight part-time employees were laid off and one full-time employee was furloughed. The severance package for those laid off included, “paid notice, severance pay, benefit premiums for several months, their equipment, stock option exceptions [exercise extension and waiving of vesting cliff], and other career support resources.”
The When I Work executive has also taken a pay cut effective immediately.
