Tech company with head office in Vancouver laying off 20% of staff

Feb 23 2023, 11:53 pm

A global tech company with a significant presence in Vancouver and Toronto is laying off around 20% of its staff.

Appnovation, a “full-service digital partner that combines Strategy, Experience & Design, Engineering and Managed Services,” employs over 400 people globally, according to its website.

The company’s largest concentration of employees is in Vancouver at its corporate head office.

According to current and former employees of Appnovation who spoke with Daily Hive, while layoffs might be an unfortunate necessity for some companies, the way they were communicated created mental stress, worry, and confusion for workers.

Daily Hive has agreed to keep the identity of the source confidential.

Appnovation layoffs

Daily Hive reached out to Appnovation, and the company provided a statement on the layoffs, saying, “These last few years have been unlike any other – from a global pandemic, adjusting to a new way of working and, as we settle into 2023, signals of an economic slowdown.”

“Because of that, brands that had been making investments in digital strategies and solutions are now exercising caution. As a result, Appnovation did reduce staff globally,” said the company.

“Because people are the heart of our company, it was not a decision taken lightly, and departed employees were offered severance, as is standard,” they said.

Per termination documents provided to Daily Hive by a source, one laid-off employee will receive two weeks’ pay in lieu of notice as part of their Termination Pay.

According to an email provided to Daily Hive, Appnovation CEO Arnold Leung said the company will reduce its workforce by “approximately 20%” between now and the end of March.

They have also made cost-saving decisions like closing office spaces in EMEA – business jargon for Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

According to its website, Appnovation has 11 global offices from Vancouver and Toronto to Singapore and Sãu Paulo, and an employee has said that those offices are not active.

Former and current employees concerned

Appnovation employees, both former and current, reached out to Daily Hive to express their concerns about how the layoffs were handled.

“The company has been ambitious, but leadership decisions have started to crack, and tech industry impact aside, decisions being made feel like they weren’t in the best interest or consideration of the people who work here,” said one source.

According to employees, a company email was sent at the end of the day on Wednesday by the CEO explaining the layoffs. Still, during the day, people were being kicked out of Slack as they got let go, and employees wondered why they suddenly couldn’t contact their coworkers.

“While the CEO said that ‘people are at the heart of Appnovation,’ it’s these instances of miscommunication and deception and leaving people in the dark that proves this to not be true,” said a source.

The poor communication, according to sources, has led to “uncertainty and mental stress.”

“I had an idea that I was going to be laid off”

A terminated employee called their layoff experience an “instance of deception.”

They got a request from their head of department for a “catch up.”

“At the time, the meeting was just scheduled for myself and the department heads, but I did notice [they] had two other “Catch Up” meetings scheduled back to back with mine,” said a source.

“I had an idea that I was going to be laid off, and it was confirmed when I checked the meeting attendees just before I opened the Zoom link and an HR employee was added.”

LinkedIn comments

One employee told Daily Hive that one of the toughest parts of this experience has been seeing the CEO comment on employees’ LinkedIn posts about their terminations.

“I feel bad for the former employees who are trying to make connections and let people know they’re available for hire on LinkedIn, only to have the CEO message them with messages like ‘good luck with everything’ and it’s all public knowledge,” said one employee.

“Just out-of-touch with people’s reality.”

    • Example 1 – CEO message: Good luck with everything. Happy to make connections if I can help.
    • Example 2 – CEO message: Thanks for all the hard work. Good luck with all your future endeavours.
    • Example 3 – CEO message: Thanks for all the hard work. Good luck with everything.

What could have been done

For the employees, it seems like more transparency, honesty, and compassion would have gone a long way as the business restructures.

One source who was laid off said they would have preferred their department head to ask them to join a call instead of scheduling a catch-up.

“I feel exceptionally terrible for my coworkers who were left in the dark,” said a source.

“We have been told … that the company is doing great, not in any danger, just shifting from high-cost growth to sustainable profit,” said another source. “But to lay off such a significant chunk of people, there must be more to it.”

“I’ve enjoyed working at Appnovation, though they regularly go through cutting people, never on this scale,” they said. “For a company that prides itself on Culture, they seem to let people go quite often.”

At the end of the day, one of the hardest pills to swallow for employees is that they see a company “try and both externally and internally push these values that they’re a ‘great place to work,’ that they’re ‘one team’ or that they’re ‘people-inspired’ when they treat their employees so carelessly,” said a source.

Sarah AndersonSarah Anderson

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