Almost 40% of Foodpanda Romania's employees were fired after Glovo took over the company, although the new owner had given assurances that there would be no layoffs following the transaction.

A total of 89 employees, mostly call-centre agents, were announced to be laid off earlier this year, according to the British publication Sifted, which cites former and current Foodpanda employees. Their jobs will be outsourced, Profit.ro reported.

The quoted employees claim that they were misleadingly provided hints that no one will lose their job. They also claim that Glovo did not manage the process with empathy.

Glovo reportedly said "we will not fire anyone," but it now denies it.

"Glovo representatives came to Romania when they announced the merger. They told us 'we will not fire anyone, because we want to build a regional team and a local team here in Bucharest. We want to keep each one because You have huge results here,'" said a former Foodpanda employee whom Sifted calls Julia to keep her anonymous.

Her statements were confirmed by former Foodpanda employees now working for Glovo.

In reply, Glovo told Sifted that the company's representatives "did not make such promises or statements".

Glovo signed last May an agreement with Delivery Hero, which operates the Foodpanda delivery service in Romania, to acquire the latter's operations in Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia for EUR 170 mln. 

andrei@romania-insider.com

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