ClearTax Fires 16% Workforce in Shocking Layoffs Spree

According to people with knowledge of the situation, Clear (previously Cleartax) let off between 20 and 25 percent of its employees in a new wave of layoffs that began on August 1. The layoffs have impacted many newly hired staff, including freshmen who started only two months ago.

According to a source who asked to remain anonymous, "the company is letting go of 20-25% of its workforce as part of a restructuring exercise." "The company provided standard severance packages to the majority of the 145 affected employees."

While acknowledging the layoffs, Clear asserted that only sixteen percent of the employees received requests to leave. "At Clear, we've always taken pride in being an organization that prioritizes its employees and places a strong emphasis on learning, creativity, and development," a Clear representative stated. "We recently implemented a more extensive strategic organizational reorganization that affected approximately sixteen percent of our staff, including a few early-career employees."

"We have provided them with improved severance benefits, ongoing health insurance, and proactive outplacement support by reaching out to industry partners," the representative continued.

The layoff also surprised many new hires who had only been with the consumer finance startup for a quarter, according to sources. Affected individuals shared their experiences on LinkedIn. IIT Guwahati alumnus Anoop Singh, who started working as a software engineer in June, noted that he believed the decision was extremely unfair because he was not given the opportunity to demonstrate his abilities. Singh stated in his message that he wasn't looking for pity but rather for connections and chances.

Harshit Swarnkar, another employee, claimed that his offer to be a software developer was withdrawn due to challenging business choices.Clear provides both individuals and corporations with financial and tax solutions. Through Finance Cloud, Compliance Cloud, and Supply Chain Cloud, it offers firms accounts payable, e-invoicing, and invoice discounting. It makes tax filing and associated services easier for individuals.

The corporation is implementing new layoffs precisely three years after the previous round. In September 2022, the company let go of about 20% of its employees, affecting teams in tech, product, sales, and support, among other divisions. It's intriguing that the layoffs occur during a critical time for the business, the busiest time of year for filing income tax returns. The majority of Clear's income comes from company secretarial and tax-related services, and the Indian government has set September 15 as the deadline for filing returns.