SoftBank-backed OYO extends temporary layoff period for employees till Feb 2021

Budget hotels aggregator OYO on Friday said it has extended the furlough period for a section of its India-based employees till February 2021, in a revision of its earlier decision to send the staffers on the leave with limited benefits (LwLB) scheme till August 2020.

Those impacted have been provided with two options marked to a September 11 deadline -- they can continue with the LwLB period till February 28, 2021, or voluntarily exit the company, OYO leadership said in a blog post.

In response to a TechCircle query, OYO declined to share details on the number of employees who have voluntarily exited the company since May, citing company policy.

The employees have also been offered limited period post-employment assistance in terms of pay, employee stock options, health insurance extending to family, counselling benefits and job transition support, as per the blog post.

“... nobody had the idea that the lockdown will be extended four times until June 30 in varying degrees, leaving a long-lasting impact on the business and a severe dent on our revenues,” the blogpost, authored by OYO India and South Asia CEO Rohit Kapoor, and chief human resources officer Dinesh Ramamurthi, said.

After OYO partially reopened for business in India on June 8, its occupancy levels were at 30% of pre-Covid-19 levels, Kapoor and Ramamurthi said, adding that the “small but encouraging green shoot” enabled the company to call back some impacted colleagues in different teams and geographies, as limited opportunities opened up.

OYO is also seeing signs of recovery in Europe, with its vacation homes business, as well as in the United States and other markets, a spokesperson told TechCircle. 

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In August, OYO said it would restore full salaries of its India employees in phases until December 2020, in a reversal that affected as much as 60% of its workforce across India and South Asia in the first phase.