Freshly Cosmetics notices the drop in sales at its online shop and announces a redundancy programme. This is what the Catalan cosmetics startup said just over a fortnight ago. Although it was not yet known how far-reaching this could be for the workers, the company, according to Agencia EFE, has provided more details about the redundancy plan and specifies that it will affect 52 workers, 18% of its workforce in Reus.
The company justifies that the adoption of this procedure is due to ‘economic and organisational reasons’ with the aim of adapting to ‘market needs’ after the 2023 decline in e-commerce.
Freshly has assured that during the last few weeks it has met with the representation committee to ‘ensure a respectful and supportive exit process’. However, on social networks, the company's workers have not hesitated to speak out and explain their experiences as employees of the company. Different Instagram or LinkedIn accounts have been created in which they explain the personal situations of the 52 people affected by the ERE with the hashtags #asidefreshly and #freshlynofreshly. The affected workers argue that, after studying the reasons given by the company, they are ‘quite incongruous’, given that the organisational structure they intend to set up ‘is unfeasible for the moment’.
The Catalan regional television station was able to speak to some of the people affected, who added that the departments most affected by this ERE are marketing, social networks, branding, IT, human resources... ‘They have touched all the departments and have reduced them to practically half the staff, taking over the tasks of the rest,’ says the affected person. The affected person has argued that, in addition, they perceive a lack of sensitivity on the part of the company and that they feel disappointed and powerless in the face of this situation.
Freshly Cosmetics began its global expansion in 2023 and in Spain alone managed to open eighteen points of sale. It now has more than 600 points of sale in Spain, Andorra, Italy, Portugal and France and has diversified its business beyond cosmetics with Freshly Makeup, Freshly Kids and Freshly Pets.