Company that sacked 400 staff overnight faces further criticism

Zirtual, the virtual assistant company which fired 400 staff overnight via email on Monday, have faced further criticism from staff today.

The business has since been acquired by Startups.co but the company has revealed that returning staff will be hired as contractors, meaning they will not receive benefits offered in their full-time capacity.

In the acquisition announcement the company said: “Ideally we’d like to keep everyone, but given that the previous state of the company was unsustainable, it’s not reasonable to think we can continue to do so. Prior to the announcement, the company had employed over 400 professionals, so we have a lot of work to do to determine how many we can retain.”

Former emplpyee Charissa Moore called on the company to refrain from promising clients that staff would return to the business. Speaking on Twitter she says: “STOP TELLING CLIENTS WE ARE COMING BACK. No ZAs want anything to do with Zirtual. Clients – we are NOT working with Z!”