Among the exponential evolution of startups in Brazil, the Facily hypermarket proved to be one of the great success stories in the context of innovation. A little over three years after its founding, in December last year, Facily reached the status of “unicorn”, which are startups with a market value of more than US$ 1 billion. However, reality showed a problematic company that ended up dismissing, 120 days later, approximately one thousand people, including employees and outsourced workers.
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Facily's function is to be a digital hypermarket, which sells food and cleaning products through its own application. Aiming to reduce costs, the company delivers the products sold at specific points, where customers can pick them up. The simplified chain ended up attracting investors.
The company raised $385 million between November and December. This position made it second only to companies such as Nubank and QuintoAndar.
The company's CEO, Diego Dzodan, spoke about the company's evolution. “With the new investments received, the company will focus on logistical efficiency to accelerate deliveries of orders placed on the platform, in addition to working on the company's national expansion", He wrote.
dismissals
However, after four months, the cuts arrived. The company aimed to reduce 60% of employee expenses, and more than 350 direct employees ended up losing their jobs, according to unofficial information. Although the company did not speak publicly about its workforce, everyone knew that it comprised between 800 and 900 people.
In March, outsourced workers began to be laid off as well. The company i9 Xperience Center provided services such as service and logistical support with about a thousand employees, who performed their duties within the company's premises.
Thus, 900 employees of i9 were dismissed due to payroll cuts, and among these, 700 make up a group of people with a legal entity contract with the company. i9 officials say that approximately 200 people who worked under CLT also lost their jobs.
By email, Dzodan wrote that the cuts were made by a “reprioritization” of projects. “Until the end of last year, the Brazilian scenario was different and promising, but as soon as we entered in 2022 we already saw that the scenario, containment and advances would be different and more cautious due to all. Including high interest rates, political and social instability that shook markets and investors around the world,” he wrote.
The CEO did not confirm the exact number of employees that were laid off, nor the size of the payroll reduction. According to Dzodan, all areas were “reorganized according to the prioritization of projects”.
A group of former employees said the layoffs were spread across multiple levels and sectors. However, the point that drew attention was the dismissal of 150 employees from the technology department, which goes in the opposite direction to the current startup market.
The CEO denies that there was bad planning: “We hire according to organizational planning. The national and global scenarios are changing and, automatically, projects are being reprioritized”, he justified.
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