Reference no: EM133164743

Samantha Shah, the founder and CEO of TaskRabbit, the online marketplace that lets people hire freelancers for odd jobs, says the recent rash of layoffs due to the coronavirus crisis is giving her ugly flashbacks. "I feel like I have PTSD," she says. "I know exactly how these founders and managers feel."

Samantha founded TaskRabbit just a few months before the global financial crisis that began in 2008; and she oversaw several rounds of layoffs before her company was acquired by IKEA.

The year 2014 sticks with her. The economy was improving, but TaskRabbit faced an uncertain future. Customers were shifting toward mobile technology and competition for the platform was intensifying.

Samantha realized she couldn't hold on to the company that she had worked so hard to build unless she made big changes. After many agonizing conversations with the company's five-member executive team, Samantha came to the conclusion that she needed to eliminate 25% of the workforce - 100 people.

"I knew it was best for the company in the long run, but at the time I was living my worst nightmare," she recalls. "I was letting people down."

But Samantha understood that these layoffs were not about her. "However difficult it was for the team and I to make the decision, I knew it was going to be more difficult for the people I had to let go."

Samantha has read recent statistics that has shown that in times of downsizing, women and racialized groups suffer the most. She wants to avoid this from happening at TaskRabbit.

QUESTION:

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