Grindr loses half of its workforce after return to office ultimatum
82 out of 178 employees — 46% of the staff — were let go after rejecting the mandate.
Half of the Grindr workforce has been laid off, according to reports after the company’s CEO issued a return-to-office ultimatum.
Grindr has joined a growing collection of tech companies that are trying to bring staff back to the office.
In August, Grindr gave staff two weeks to decide whether they would commit to being in an office for two days a week.
According to Wired’s report, 82 out of 178 employees — 46% of staff — were let go after rejecting the mandate.
Wired also reports that workers at the social media app unionised two weeks before being given the ultimatum.
Many employees declined to return as the policy would’ve forced many to relocate to Los Angeles, Chicago, or San Francisco.
Grindr’s union estimates that 70% of the engineering team, 80% of the product department, as well as 85% of the product design team were cut.
Grindr spokesperson Sarah Bauer has disputed these figures and said the company does not release this information publicly.
Bauer also added that the return to office ultimatum was unrelated to workers’ decision to unionise.
“We respect and support our team members’ rights to make their own decision about union representation,” she told Wired.
“We’ve gotten no guidance whatsoever.”
Erick Cortez, a Grindr employee based in Dallas, Texas told Wired that now most of the engineering team is gone.
As a knowledge specialist on Grindr’s customer experience team, he works with engineers to resolve bugs in the app.
“We have already run into quite a few issues where we simply don’t know who to reach out to,” he also shared.
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) filed two unfair labour practice charges with the US National Labor Relations Board.
The charges accuse the company of unlawfully suppressing discussion of working conditions.
Also, the charge claims that discussion suppression also happened through an agreement that terminated employees were offered in exchange for severance pay.
“Rather than recognize the union, the company issued a new return-to-office policy requiring staff to relocate or quit,” the CWA said in a statement.
Update: Responding to Attitude’s request for comment, a Grindr spokesperson shared: “The latest claims filed by the union against Grindr have no merit.”
“We have full confidence in our team and their ability to continue to drive the business forward and make the world and lives of our users freer, more tolerant, and more just.
“We are looking forward to returning to the office in a hybrid model in October and further improving productivity and collaboration for our entire team.
“Our business and financial performance continue to be very positive. We recently raised our annual guidance and are excited about the innovative product initiatives and the growth outlook for Grindr heading into 2024.”