Ukrainian EdTech company Promova last week laid off about 15% of its staff, or 28 employees. The employees were fired «in one day.»
Ukrainian EdTech company Promova last week laid off about 15% of its staff, or 28 employees. The employees were fired «in one day.»
Promova DOU explained that the last six months have been difficult: advertising costs have increased, attracting new users has become more difficult, and the market is unstable. After analyzing costs and priorities, the management came to the conclusion that in order to maintain stability, it is necessary to narrow the focus and optimize the team. After the reduction, 157 employees remained in the team.
«Each laid-off employee receives compensation in the amount of a monthly salary, letters of recommendation, and access to the internal resource management system in the Genesis ecosystem, where they can find new opportunities in other portfolio companies,» said Andriy Skrypnyk, CEO and co-founder of the company.
Promova is a Ukrainian company from theGenesis ecosystem, working in the field of language education, which has entered the global market in a few years. It was founded in 2019 by Andriy Skrypnyk, Mykhailo Galyan, and Valeria Vakulska. The team has gradually grown to an international scale, with a development center in Ukraine and offices in Europe.
Their main product is a mobile app and web platform for language learning. Promova combines short interactive lessons, group and individual tutoring, speaking exercises, and AI-powered role-playing dialogues.
Recently, on LinkedIn, one of the company’s specialists, brand manager Anastasia Avetisyan, spoke in more detail about how she was laid off from Promova. She said that she was laid off despite the fact that she was seven months pregnant. In the comments to her post, Promova founder and CEO Andriy Skrypnyk commented on the information.
The public dialogue gathered hundreds of reactions and comments. We are publishing Anastasia’s position and her dialogue with Andriy.
Anastasia reported in the post that she had a miscarriage in her seventh month of pregnancy.
«It was funny about being prepared for the apocalypse, considering that the next day I was laid off. It’s kind of strange to post something without telling about such an «update». And it’s difficult to tell and not swear here. Well, I’ll try. «Speech», it seems, showed a master class on the moronic organization of a layoff.
«It all happened so abruptly and coldly, as if it were a General Motors with 150,000 people, not a startup with 150. It’s downright disgusting to me as someone who wrote communication guides, values statements, and other, as it turned out, completely useless stuff. The whole process showed how much the company didn’t care about the feelings of the team — both those who were fired and those who remained,» Anastasia wrote. .
According to her, the layoffs were announced with a single message in Slack and a four-minute video. «I came up with the concept of Sucksess merch, but I can’t think of a more inappropriate reason to wear it. The „Letters of Happiness“ were impersonal and formal. They allotted 10 minutes for each person to talk to HR. Where WTF remarks were answered literally: „Your feedback is very important to us.“ The most infuriating thing was that they „turned on the timer“ for two hours, after which all the laid-off employees were disconnected from Slack and email. As if this was a military facility with a spy inside, and you have to act according to the instructions of the GUR,» the specialist noted.
Anastasia says that the team was not told who was being laid off or why. «Although we are talking about a couple of dozen people, not thousands. Including those who had worked in the company for 3-5-7 years. What prevented us from talking to everyone during the week, explaining what was happening, why this particular role was being cut? But nothing prevented us. It just didn’t matter,» she clarified.
Anastasia also added that the company did not communicate the layoffs to the public in any way.
«Overall, I’m very glad that I was laid off, because I can only imagine the anxiety and uncertainty of those who remained. I wish everyone who remained on board to stick together and know their worth. To everyone who was laid off, congratulations, it’s definitely for the better,» she noted.
The girl added another important «fan effect»: «I was cut short in the seventh month of pregnancy. I’ll write about this f***ing (couldn’t stand it!) trend separately.»
Andriy Skrypnyk, CEO and founder at Promova, responded to Anastasia’s post in detail.
«Throughout my career, I promised myself that I would not lay off people en masse, that I would not bring the business to a situation where I would need to make this decision, and I did everything to avoid it. In August, when we had already seen for several months how the market situation in our niche negatively affected the results of the marketing team, I decided to change management and tasked the new leader with preserving the team. Because I believed that the team in the new conditions and with a new manager would be able to achieve the desired result.
Time passed and, unfortunately, it didn’t work. And that’s when I first thought about downsizing and restarting the business. I hadn’t studied layoffs anywhere or taken any courses, so I went to other entrepreneurs for advice, where the only advice I heard was «do it quickly.»
«Now, looking back on everything, seeing how it all happened, I understand that I made two mistakes: and one of them is the most painful. I underestimated how cool and loyal a team we had built over the years, how committed people are to the company and our mission. And how much this chosen format would hurt the employees,» he wrote.
Skrypnyk added that the Promova team is almost 70% women. «Therefore, from the first days, I paid special attention to this. Once I saw how one of my colleagues found it very difficult to work and be in the office because of women’s days. That’s how I introduced Care Days — days when people who feel discomfort due to any physiological or other reasons could take them without explanation, go home and rest. Without explaining the reason to anyone,» the founder shared.
In his opinion, childbirth and pregnancy in general are some kind of miracle of this world that cannot simply be «understood.» «Therefore, in all cases when we had pregnant colleagues, I insisted that they take extra months of vacation and that we allocate separate assistance for this. I admit, we did not cover the entire period, but we went to the meeting and provided separate financial assistance where necessary,» Skrypnyk wrote.
Andriy also responded to what was written in Anasasia’s post. However, the expert disagrees with some of his interpretations.
- On Monday, you came out with a suggestion to your manager that you now feel you would like to consider more time off from work and potentially a new format and move to reduced working hours.
- You and the manager have agreed on specific details, conditions, etc., and you will make an appointment on Monday, November 24.
- It was your position that actually got cut because we decided not to focus on that part of the brand initiatives.
- But we had projects that you planned to negotiate next week, which you discussed with HR and the manager on Wednesday during the last call.
- Separately, we agreed on a double severance package for you, and the fact that we leave the project work and work as long as you are comfortable.
- Your team has remained in touch with you through other channels, but indeed, we have disabled access to Slack, as we have agreed on new terms of cooperation at your initiative.
I am grateful for your ideas, the contributions you have made to the company, and all the time you have spent with us. I understand that no words I have can ever justify the harm or alleviate the state of shock and injustice of the layoff that I have caused by my actions during this process. However, I sincerely apologize for the experience you have had to endure.
Anastasia says that everything was a little wrong.
Let me comment too.
- «In August, when we had already seen for several months how the market situation in our niche was negatively affecting the results of the marketing team…» — at that time you were promoting related projects that took up the resources of the product and marketing teams only because you had an epiphany when you visited Burning Man. From my position, the total confusion of the marketing team was obvious. And in general, many initiatives had a marginal explanation — «because Andriy wants it that way». No one saw the logic behind it. Reflect on this, maybe this is a somewhat problematic approach to management?
- «I never learned how to manipulate people anywhere» — you’re encouraging everyone to use AI. From the first inquiry, it would tell you that such an approach is not OK.
- «It is also worth noting that our team is almost 70% women» is an argument FOR offering women additional support and at least three months of paid maternity leave. If there are no resources for this, then where will they come from for the employer brand department with parties, weddings and teambuilding? By the way, «women’s days» can simply be called monthly.
- «On Monday, you came out with a proposal to the manager…» — No, that’s not true. At the end of the usual 1-1 call with a report and plans, I said that I was tired, because two weeks before that I had worked during my sick leave. To which I instantly received an offer to switch to project work. When I heard that I had to do it from the next week, I realized that it was an «offer I can’t refuse», which had nothing to do with my initiative. Otherwise, why would they lay me off at all and with compensation, if I was so happily ready to switch to freelance?))
- I agree with the double severance. But I have a question: how do you imagine looking for a job in the last months of pregnancy or in the first months after giving birth? Do you really think that two months' salary is an incredible bonus here?
Anastasia added: «I emphasize that this post is not about the harm specifically to me, but about how ineptly and callously the downsizing process was carried out, in which others suffered much more than I. Andriy, it’s very good if you feel sorry, uncomfortable, and hurt right now — that’s how it should be.»
UPD. The specialist wrote a new post, where she reported that Promova admitted that the layoffs were lousy. The CEO apologized. The company will additionally compensate for half a year of health insurance for those who were laid off.
It may seem like a small thing, but at least the company didn’t manage to go unnoticed. The situation from complete silence to recognition and apologies turned around over the weekend, thanks to the publicity and the community’s concern. Thank you all! The principle that talking about a former employer as if they were deceased is either good or nothing is crappy and harmful. It creates a toxic, disenfranchised culture where employers are always right. This is not the case. And it’s completely normal to talk about it,» Anastasia said.
The tutors who worked there were also unjustly fired. We got ZERO compensation, only our normal pay, and cancelled classes, and less than the usual 2 weeks notice btw.