Innodata lays off 550 employees in India overnight: Staff locked out, shares crash 25%

PTC Web Desk: Hundreds of employees at AI services company Innodata have lost their jobs, many without any prior notice. Within hours, a WhatsApp group created by the affected staff had grown to 617 members, all looking for answers.

The group, named “The Lay off victims”, began after employees noticed they were losing access to work systems. Its link spread quickly across several Microsoft Teams groups and people started joining within seconds. 

According to reports, around 550 employees in India have been affected and job cuts have also been reported in the Philippines. Innodata has not confirmed the total number of people laid off.

An employee described how the day began as usual. Everyone logged in, marked attendance and got busy with work. Around lunchtime, a rumour spread that the company’s entire Philippines team, including raters, quality experts, team leads and operations managers, had been let go during a Zoom call.

Soon, the news reached Indian staff as well. Some employees checked the HR portal and found that their payslips had already been generated, showing October 26 as both the resignation date and last working day.

Employees tried to reach their managers, who were reportedly just as surprised. Meanwhile, laptops were logged out and official IDs stopped working.

“By late evening, we had almost 500 persons, all clueless and in a state of panic,” the employee said about the WhatsApp group.

Termination emails sent to personal accounts

Later, termination emails arrived on personal email IDs. The company said the decision was based on business needs and had nothing to do with individual performance.

The email also explained the full and final settlement process and asked employees to return company-issued assets.

The bigger problem for many is that they lost access to the HR payroll app before they could download their payslips and other employment documents. Some employees have not received any termination letter yet and only know that they can no longer log in to work.

“Some of them have family responsibilities,” an employee said.

One employee estimated that about 90% of Innodata’s India workforce had lost their jobs and said only five colleagues they knew were still working. 

Innodata shares fall sharply on Nasdaq

The news hit the stock hard. Innodata shares closed at $44.74, down $15.17 or 25.32% from the previous close of $59.91. During the session, the stock dropped as much as 28%. Trading volume also jumped to around 9.8 million shares, compared with about 741,000 in the previous session.

The termination email mentioned a “ramp-down of the business assignment” but did not name the client or explain the financial impact. The company has not yet clarified the layoffs or what they mean for its business.

Company still advertising new jobs

Even as employees reported losing their jobs, Innodata’s LinkedIn page showed openings for roles such as French language specialist, cybersecurity specialist and lead security engineer.

It is not clear whether these vacancies are linked to the affected teams or are for entirely different projects.