Shark Tank Featured Yes Madam Faces Online Backlash for Sacking Employees Under Work Stress

Shark Tank fame Yes Madam is experiencing internet wrath for allegedly discharging more than 100 employees who reported increased work-related stress in a company-conducted mental health study.

Yes Madam, a salon-at-home startup, was founded in 2016 by siblings Aditya and Mayank Arya. It competes against Urban Company, MakeO, ZapLuk, Belita, BigStylist, GetLook, and Biguine India.

Anushka Dutta, an ex-copywriter at Yes Madam, expressed her dissatisfaction on LinkedIn, writing: “What’s going on at Yes Madam? First, you conduct a random survey, then terminate us overnight because we are stressed. Not only have I been sacked, but so have 100 other people.

Related: Beauty Services Yes Madam’s Shark Tank India Journey and Beyond

Dutta also included a screenshot of the layoff email delivered by the company’s human resources department (HR). Surprisingly, the email claims that the terminations were intended to keep employees from working under stress.

“As a corporation dedicated to creating a healthy and friendly work environment, we carefully analyzed the feedback. To guarantee that no one is upset at work, we have made the tough choice to part ways with individuals who have expressed substantial stress,” the email stated.

These LinkedIn articles rapidly went viral, with more than 6,400 likes and 1,300 comments. The majority of the comments and new posts slammed Yes Madam, calling the development “terribly stressful and (a) disturbing news”. Not only that, but several users dubbed the mass layoffs “unethical” and advocated for stronger labor rules in the country.

However, other individuals questioned the incident’s validity, believing that it was a marketing campaign. A netizen remarked that the corporation had “literally stooped low” if this was a PR trick.

The development occurs at a time when there is no shortage of evidence indicating high levels of stress among Indian employees. According to a survey by MediBuddy and the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), roughly 62% of Indian employees suffer from work-related burnout, which is much higher than the global average of 20%.

Another World Health Organization (WHO) research states that more than half of the world’s population is currently employed, and roughly 15% of working-age persons suffer from anxiety disorders.

According to a separate estimate, at least 1,200 crore workdays are lost each year due to employee anxiety and depression, costing the global economy approximately $1 trillion in productivity.

However, Yes Madam has landed in turbulent waters before. Last year, the business faced criticism for reportedly exposing private data of its clients and gig workers due to a server-side misconfiguration.

In February, the home salon business received INR 1.5 crore in funding from four investors on the hit TV show Shark Tank India: Aman Gupta, Vineeta Singh, Peyush Bansal, and Ritesh Agarwal.

On the financial front, Yes Madam reported operational revenue of INR 27.04 Cr in fiscal year 2022-23 (FY23), up roughly 26% from INR 21.48 Cr in the previous year. Previously, the Delhi NCR-based business informed Inc42 that it generated revenue of INR 45 Cr in FY24.

Meanwhile, losses increased by only 3% year on year (YoY) to INR 6.36 crore in the fiscal year under review, up from INR 6.15 crore in FY22.