BlackBuck lays off 200 employees; more likely soon

Layoffs and pay cuts are becoming the new normal for businesses across sectors as they try to cope with the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic. And startups are now facing the brunt and the heat.

After several consumer-facing startups announced layoffs or pay cuts in the past few days, business-focused surface logistics major BlackBuck has now followed by announcing its decision to lay off over 200 employees and may let go another 250 in the coming weeks. 

BlackBuck focuses on B2B logistics solutions for long-haul trucking. It connects businesses with truck operators for moving goods from one place to another, a sector that has taken a big hit post the imposition of the nationwide lockdown.

According to a CNBC report, most of the impacted employees were working in customer experience and operations. BlackBuck is helping the affected employees to secure positions in other companies.

Besides consumer-facing platforms, companies involved in supply chain and logistics have also been hit hard. The movement of non-essential items was barred during the first phase of lockdown. As a result, companies such as BlackBuck were impacted adversely.

The central government has allowed e-commerce operations from April 20 and states like Odisha, Maharashtra and Rajasthan have issued orders to allow all forms of e-commerce operations in their states. This move will encourage the supply chain companies as they will be able to begin work soon.

Over the past four weeks, a clutch of startups have slashed either their workforce or salaries. Scooter rental startup Bounce fired over 120 employees last month while TravelTriangle let go of over 300. Naspers-backed social commerce major Meesho also slashed over 200 jobs. Entrackr had exclusively reported about the layoffs at Meesho.

Several other startup entrepreneurs are now consulting with their stakeholders for ways to stretch their runway and figure a way ahead.