TinyOwl-employee termination talks come to a head Employees have been asked to return company-owned assets such as laptops, phones and data cards
For 52 people waiting outside TinyOwl's Gurgaon office, it was a frustrating day. Monday was their last day there and they were asked to return company-owned assets such as laptops, phones and data cards. The guards stationed at the door said no one was allowed inside but the employees had e-mails asking them to submit all gadgets and end their story with TinyOwl. There was uproar. People had been forced from across the national capital region to come into the office and were turned away. Calls went out to the offices in Mumbai, some officials denied knowledge of these e-mails and others were not reachable. The founders were, once again, missing in action. After two and a half hours of calling, texting and e-mailing, the employees were grudgingly let inside by the guards. The chaos was just the tip of the iceberg. The anger bubbled over after weeks of failed negotiations. The Mumbai-based food technology company had laid off about 118 people two weeks ago, in an effort to clamp on the increasing burn rate. But, terminations have not come easy to the company. TinyOwl Employee has been battling a series of snafus from the public announcement of termination to the way the lay-offs were handled. The company has been negotiating the terms of termination with employees from all offices, except Pune, sources said. But, last week, TinyOwl abruptly withdrew all efforts to come to an accord, said employees. "Whenever we asked the company on the terms, they would not reply. They kept asking us to come to Mumbai and negotiate. But what terms?" asked an executive from the Gurgaon office, privy to the discussions.