Coronavirus hits employment badly, leaves hundreds out of job in this startup

As coronavirus continues to hit economies across the world, millions of people are losing their jobs across the world. Now, in a latest development, health and fitness start-up cure.fit on has said it has shut its fitness centres in small towns in India and the UAE, leaving hundreds out of job, as it battles the current pandemic that has ravaged several industries. The company's cult.fit business has been hit hard as it has permanently closed several fitness centres.
 
"Given the current pandemic and restrictions across the country, our business is going through significant changes. The lockdown has affected all our business offerings and we do not see the situation improving for quite some time, considering the pandemic spread has affected all the markets we operate in," the Bengaluru-headquartered company said in a statement. "This unprecedented situation has forced us to close operations in small towns in India and the UAE," it added.
 
cure.fit 
 
Founded in 2016 by former Flipkart executives Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, cure.fit aimed to address preventive healthcare through a combination of engagement, coaching and delivery using a mix of online and offline channels. While cult.fit focused on physical strength and fitness, eat.fit looked for healthy and nutritive food, mind.fit for mental wellbeing and care.fit for preventive healthcare.
 
Downsizing and pay cuts!
 
The company said that it has downsized its employee base across markets where it has shut operations and have initiated pay cuts across levels. "The founders have taken a 100 per cent pay cut, the management team 50 per cent and the rest of the staff depending on seniority have a reduction of 20 to 30 per cent," informed the company. It said that 90 per cent of the cult trainers continue to be with the company and have been moved to a fixed plus variable model to tide over the crisis.
 

FULL TEXT of the statement by cure.fit

"Given the current pandemic and restrictions across the country, our business is going through significant changes. The lockdown has affected all our business offerings and we do not see the situation improving for quite some time, considering the pandemic spread has affected all the markets we operate in. This unprecedented situation has forced us to close operations in small towns in India and the UAE.

While we are doing everything we can to solve for our customers, we also need to adjust to the new realities and manage costs to ensure the long term viability of the business. We have downsized our employee base across markets where we have shut operations and have initiated pay cuts across levels. The founders have taken a 100% pay cut, the management team 50% and the rest of the staff depending on seniority have a reduction of 20 to 30%.

90% of the cult trainers continue to be with us and have been moved to a fixed plus variable model to tide over the crisis. All employees part of the downsizing have been provided with a significant severance package to help them with the current situation, including extended health insurance for them and their families. Further, we will provide our full assistance in out-placing them in the coming days. We have also created an emergency fund of Rs 2 Cr to support affected employees in the coming months.

We are ensuring our customers do not lose out and have extended unlimited pause for their CULT memberships for as long as it takes to exit the lockdown. We are ramping up our digital fitness offerings to support members stay fit, while tele-consultants have been introduced to provide medical services at home. We are also doubling down on health food & essentials home delivery while maintaining rigorous hygiene standards across all our kitchens.

We recognise that this is a major global crisis and as a leading health and wellness business in the country, we have responsibilities not only to our employees and shareholders but to the society at large. We have contributed over Rs 5 crores to PM Care fund, ACT Grants, and other relief funds. This has been contributed by the company, founders, and management teams. We are also contributing our engineering resources to many community initiatives.

We have been overwhelmed by the support we have received from our customers and our employees who have worked tirelessly for the last two months to make all of our services available digitally and at home. We remain deeply committed to our vision for "Making Health Easy" for millions of Indians.  

"All employees part of the downsizing have been provided with a significant severance package to help them with the current situation, including extended health insurance for them and their families. Further, we will provide our full assistance in out-placing them in the coming days," it added.
 
The company has created an emergency fund of Rs 2 crore to support affected employees in the coming months. "We recognise that this is a major global crisis and as a leading health and wellness business in the country, we have responsibilities not only to our employees and shareholders but to the society at large," the company said.
 
In June last year, cure.fit raised $120 million in series D round of funding. Cure.fit then had over 180 cult.fit centres, 35 mind.fit centres and aimed to grow this to over 800 centres by this year.
 
Led by Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures), Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital & Oaktree Capital, the new investors Epiq Capital, Unilever Ventures, Innoven Capital and Kotak Mahindra Bank joined the 4th round of funding."