Rocket Internet Philippines employee says she was laid off, describes experiences in blog

Rocket Internet, a global cloning machine of startup ideas, has become known for its aggressive corporate culture and hire-and-fire practices.

A former Rocket Internet Philippines employee has apparently experienced these first-hand. In a blog post, Laarnie Sumalde, who was a product manager in the company, describes how being an employee there was like.

Laarnie criticizes a Lazada manager for acting like a ‘vicious boss’  and the company’s management process as being ‘like a Hitler-decision (sic)’. Her experiences were not entirely negative though — she expressed gratitude towards some of her bosses and colleagues, and at one point even stating that she was proud to belong to the company.

But no more than five months after she was hired (and subsequently promoted from CMS Expert to Product Manager), a boss had allegedly told her and some colleagues that they were being laid off. Laarnie writes that they still have to come to the office everyday because being absent might result in a termination notice.

They have yet to hear if they will receive their severance pay.

Developing story. We are contacting Laarnie and Rocket Internet for comments.

Image of blog post below: