The popular travel service provider “booking.com” has laid off numerous employees. The company wants to restructure to remain competitive. The 2,700 employees were dismissed via a video message.
There is a major restructuring at “booking.com”. As a result, around 2,700 customer service employees will be laid off. As “Dutch News‘ reported, the news of the big change was delivered to employees via a video message from ‘booking.com’ CEO Glenn Fogel. In the future, almost the entire customer service will be taken over by the external provider Majorel.
12 of the 14 customer service locations of “booking.com” are affected by the restructuring. Only the locations in Manchester and Amsterdam are to be retained. According to internal sources, affected employees have been offered a six-month contract with Majorel. However, many fear that there will be major changes to working conditions if the contract is accepted.
Not the first wave of layoffs at Booking.com
According to the CEO of “booking.com”, the restructuring step is being taken in order to remain flexible as a company. The corona crisis has hit the booking portal for travel and the like. Travel was not possible for a while, and only gradually will it be allowed again. Nevertheless, customers are probably remaining cautious and booking less than before the outbreak of the pandemic.
This wave of layoffs is not the first since the beginning of the corona crisis. In the summer of 2020, around 1,000 employees were already made redundant. At that time, however, the decision affected the IT sector with programmers and managers from Amsterdam.