Treebo Hotels Roll Out Paid VRS For 400 Employees; Will Other Startups Follow Suit?

By Sheetal Bhalerao Last updated Apr 8, 2020

Treebo Hotels Roll Out Paid VRS For 400 Employees; Will Other Startups Follow Suit?

On Monday, the budget chain Treebo Hotels launched a paid voluntary resignation scheme (PVRS) for its 400 employees, as per the reports.

What Does Treebo Say?

The Co-Founders, Sidharth Gupta and Rahul Chaudhary, Treebo’s HR department sent an email to its employees which stated the vast majority of its hotels are on stop-sell, all demand channels have dried up, revenue has nearly disappeared, and cash reserves are running low, after a town hall.

According to the email, the PVRS scheme allows employees to resign from their role at the company, get the notice period waived off, and get one month’s salary, subject to a minimum of Rs 30000 pre-tax in advance along with the 5 days worked till date.

Further, it said it has also spoken to its insurance company to be able to extend the insurance cover even after the end of its staff’s employment with the chain.

The founder Sidharth Gupta said, “This does not mean layoffs. This scheme is aimed at anxious employees who may be worried about the travel and hospitality sector at large and our small startup in the face of COVID-19, and want to apply to other sectors and also need immediate liquidity,”.

How Does This PVRS Scheme Work?

Before this, the Treebo’s co-founders have taken a 60% pay cut amidst the COVID-19 outbreak while its senior management team has taken a 40% pay cut.

For those opting for the scheme, will need to revert to HR by April 8, Treebo said.

The mail further stated, “In case we exceed the budget set aside for this scheme, we will be processing applications on a first come first served basis,”.

Also, Gupta said that he does not want too many people to take it as when revival happens, the company wouldn’t want to start from scratch.

Further, the mail stated that Treebo has put together a group of senior leaders who are working on finding alternate employment opportunities for all those who chose the PVR Scheme.

According to the resources, about 100-120 people and those at the lower or middle-income levels in the company are likely to opt for it.

While talking about the subject, Gupta said, he does not see the situation materially changing in the next three months.