With the current situation, Sayurbox would continue to elevate its business core to generate numerous benefits for Indonesia’s farmers and local producers.
Heaptalk, Jakarta — A terrible layoff storm is still happening around the startup in Indonesia, one of which is the layoff announcement from the e-grocery startup, Sayurbox. This startup was forced to cut 5% of the employees, effective on December 6th, 2022. This severe consideration is a part of the company’s attempt to become a more independent startup financially and retain sustainable enhancement during the uncertain macroeconomy.
As cited by techinasia.com, according to the company’s account on the LinkedIn platform, Sayurbox contains employees at a minimum of 800 people per December 2022. If calculated, around 40 workforces are estimated to be affected by this complex regulation.
Realizing this complicated determination of this move, the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sayurbox, Amanda Susanti, explained, “We are unable to avoid this determination, as we aim to retain the company’s agility and maintain business growth rates to continue to deliver a positive impact on our consumers and partners, including drivers, thousands of farmers, local producers in maintaining the long-term business sustainability,”
To appreciate the impacted employees, Sayurbox will furnish a worthy compensation aligned with the applicable regulation in Indonesia. On the other hand, the startup will also grant mentoring program devoted to the laid-off workforce to gain considerable opportunities to discover new employment.
The affected teams would also be provided job search platforms from companies with job vacancies. In addition, they can also access the Sayur Alumni Support platform to submit their curriculum vitae to be informed to several potential employers from investors, partners, recruitment agencies, and other companies.
The company will also extend the insurance facility until the end of the working month. The affected employees are also accessible to participate in exclusive workshop agendas as the strategic preparation for the post-efficiency decision that the Human Capital of the Sayurbox team initiates.
Although the company is performing efficiency steps for its employees, Sayurbox ensures that all services will not be disrupted and will continue to operate as usual. As Amanda explained, “This efficiency step is not related to the performance of each individual or team in this company. The company was forced to conduct this layoff decision due to the rationalization and restructuring of our e-grocery business model to be sustainable. With the current situation, we expect Sayurbox would continue to elevate its business core to generate numerous benefits for Indonesia’s farmers and local producers,” said Amanda.
Established in 2017, Sayurbox has supplied over 5,000 agricultural products, with delivery coverage around Jakarta Greater Area, Surabaya, and Bali. This platform has served around 1 million customers by cooperating with 10,000 farmers in Indonesia.
Before performing the employees’ diminishment resolution, Sayurbox closed its offline store, Toko Panen, located at Kelapa Gading, last June 2022. As revealed by the Vice President of People Culture and General Affairs of Sayurbox, Lady Meiske, the company aims to focus on a more profitable business area to adjust to the current economic condition.
As the information, the Indonesia-based e-grocery startup seized its Series C funding of US$120 million, or nearly Rp1.7 trillion, this March 2022, led by Northstar and Alpha JWC Ventures, with the support of International Corporation (IFC).
During the business journey, Sayurbox has experienced exponential enhancement through product augmentation, area coverage expansion, and broadened an end-to-end supply chain nationally. However, considering the turbulent economic conditions for the last months have made the company join the massive layoff issues for business sustainability.
