‘Silent’ layoffs at Traveloka following COO’s departure

Traveloka, the Southeast Asian online travel unicorn, has been trimming its workforce across different markets since January, people with knowledge of the matter told Tech in Asia.

In Indonesia, Traveloka’s home turf, the firm implemented at least two rounds of layoffs – one in mid-January and the other in early March – that included senior managers, according to the sources.

In Singapore, the company axed at least seven people. Most of them held managerial positions and three are Singaporeans, added the sources, who spoke to Tech in Asia on the condition of anonymity.

However, information on LinkedIn indicates that Traveloka’s headcount is around 3,100 and has been relatively unchanged since July 2022. At the time of publishing, there were also 75 job openings at Traveloka, most of which were posted over the last week.

The layoffs followed the departure of chief operating officer Alfan Hendro in December 2022. While management did announce his exit, the staff didn’t get any prior notice about the retrenchment plans.

Photo credit: Traveloka

Sources said that affected employees, especially those in Indonesia, stayed “silent” after the job cuts out of fear that they would not receive compensation from the company.

Tech in Asia sought comment from Traveloka, but it had not responded as of publishing time.

Unrelated to individual performance

In January, employees were notified that Traveloka would begin its performance review calibrations throughout the organization.

Concurrently, staff was told to fully work from home from January 17 to January 27 to ensure that the calibration process would be “done in the most effective way.” There would be “logistical challenges” if the calibrations were done under a hybrid office-home arrangement, the company said.

However, sources said that despite these circumstances, the layoffs in January were not related to the performance review. For one, affected employees in Singapore had not received their results when they were let go. As such, they were not given bonuses, while dismissed staff with shorter tenures did not get severance pay.

See also: Where are SEA’s laid-off techies headed?

To be clear, Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower says that only workers who have been with a company for at least two years are eligible for retrenchment benefits.

Traveloka issued recommendation letters to laid-off staff in Singapore based on their good performance. The company also asked them to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

Less focus on financial services