After Better.com, British shipping firm fires 800 employees over Zoom call

Months after Vishal Garg-led better.com fired 900 of its employees over the Zoom call, a British company followed the suit, setting an unhealthy trend.

The British shipping firm, P&O Ferries, fired 800 of its employees through a Zoom call. The call seemingly was way shorter than it should have been.

According to reports, the employees were informed about the termination of their services in about three minutes. The company sent a video message to its employees on March 17 about a "major announcement".

"The company has made the decision that its vessels going forward will be primarily crewed by a third party crew provider. Therefore, I am sorry to inform you that this means your employment is terminated with immediate effect on the grounds of redundancy. Your final day of employment is today," a company executive was heard saying in the video.

Even though the official informed that the employees would be compensated, the announcement left them shocked.

The employees were reportedly laid off without any prior intimation, but a company official has claimed that they were notified through courier, email, post and text message. The company, P&O Ferris, is under loss of £200 million in two years. It said in a statement that it had no other choice but to take the decision to lay off over 800 people.

Reacting to the callous firing of employees, British MP Karl Turner said, "All of that money should be clawed back. Any money that the British taxpayer provided for that business should be taken back from them and the government should be asking the company to get around the table with the unions and negotiate some sort of deal."