TripAdvisor To Lay Off 25 Percent Of Workforce Amid Coronavirus
NEEDHAM, MA — TripAdvisor, a Needham-based company, announced 900 layoffs on Tuesday. The company, like many in the hospitality industry, has been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The company confirmed it would lay off 25 percent of its global workforce, including over 600 employees in the U.S. and Canada.
TripAdvisor said that employees who are being laid off will receive transition packages, including severance pay and outplacement support. In the US and Canada, laid off employees will receive health insurance continuation for a period of time, according to the company.
TripAdvisor announced it will also implement cost-saving measures that include permanently closing the downtown Boston office and the San Fransisco office in addition to the layoffs. The closures are part of a three-phase plan to "navigate near-term challenges and position our business for recovery," according to the company.
In a statement to employees, Steve Kaufer, Tripadvisor’s CEO and co-founder, outlined the phases, adding that the job cuts mark the start of the third phase. The first two phases included cutting nearly all but the most essential discretionary spending, taking advantage of government subsidies in Europe and Kaufer declining his 2020 salary.
"As CEO, you plan for the best and worst case outcomes that could affect our business. Unfortunately, there is no playbook for this moment that we’re in together right now. I never fathomed a world where nearly every one of our employees would be abruptly working from home. I never fathomed a world where a simple trip to the grocery store would create so much inner angst and fear. I never thought that so many would be alone in a hospital, apart from family, fighting to survive," Kaufer said.
Along with the global layoffs, management layers were reduced, giving more responsibility to less people and a number of Tripadvisor and Viator employees were placed on furlough. The company said that in most markets, salaried employees for TripAdvisor will be asked to move to a four-day work week and take a corresponding 20 percent reduction in base salary, for three months starting in June. The 401K match program in the U.S. will be paused for that time period, the company said.
"This three phased plan was deliberately and painfully deep to make sure we will survive a prolonged and protracted downturn. Or said more simply, we don’t think we’ll need to do another broad, global layoff, even if the recovery takes longer than expected," Kaufer said in a statement.
The news comes on the heels of TripAdvisor's launch of a new program, "Hotels for Health." The program connected health care and government agencies with hotels for front-line workers during the coronavirus crisis. It is unclear if the program brought extra revenue to the company and how much.
TripAdvisor made a round of layoffs before the coronavirus crisis earlier this year. In January the company laid off 200 employees after pressure from competition with Google led the company to cut costs. January's layoff was 5 percent of the company's total workforce.
Patch will update this story.
This article originally appeared on the Needham Patch
