Don’t be swayed by Elon Musk: Ashneer Grover's word of advice on mass layoffs

Ashneer Grover, co-founder of Bharat Pe, has spoken out against the global layoffs. The entrepreneur used the social media platform LinkedIn to give business executives some advice and caution them against being swayed by the extensive layoffs that Twitter's new owner Elon Musk has implemented. After the acquisition of the social media platform, the Twitter owner laid off half of the 7,500 employees, including 90 per cent of those in India.

In a LinkedIn post, Grover wrote, “Don’t be swayed by what Elon Musk is selling as couture. It does not fit your body type. None of you have bought over a business with your own money, nor do you own 100 per cent. You carry the baggage of having built your team - he doesn’t - at least not in twitter. He is doing perfectly what is needed in an acquisition - not applicable to you at all.”

“I have this concept of ‘real salary’ vs ‘paid salary’. In 2021, the real salary (at which markets clear) at which your employees were getting poached was higher than the salary you were paying," he further added.

Along with Twitter, Facebook's parent company Meta also cut 11,000 jobs globally, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg offering apologies to those who lost their jobs. Amazon, an e-commerce platform, also disclosed that it would conduct layoffs that would last until 2023.

He advised business owners to anticipate cycles in order to avoid becoming engulfed in them. “We are going through a down cycle. Cutting costs is needed to extend runway. Firing people is fashionable - but actually optional”, the entrepreneur wrote.

Grover, who served as a judge on the hit reality series Shark Tank India, wrote, "In 2022, the real salary at which people will find jobs (if at all) if you let them go is lower than salaries you are paying. So, if you think you will need people back - simply reduce salary by 25 per cent (40 per cent in case of tech employees) rather than doing mass layoffs. It’s a better solution as rehiring will be really uphill and costly. Reinstating salary is click of a button away.”

He advised founders not to follow the pattern of Elon Musk. “Don’t be swayed by what Elon Musk is selling as couture. It does not fit your body type. None of you have bought over a business with your own money, nor do you own 100 per cent. You carry the baggage of having built your team - he doesn’t - at least not in Twitter. He is doing perfectly what is needed in an acquisition - not applicable to you at all," he added.

Grover also counselled CEOs not to heed any approvals or recommendations from 'so-called' boards or investors. According to him, investors never deal with people because they only bring capital and not labour or business.

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