Half of LGBTQ dating app Grindr staff quits over return-to-office mandate

SAN FRANCISCO: Almost half of the US-based LGBTQ dating app Grindr’s workforce has resigned after the company implemented a strict two-day-per-week in-office requirement.

According to the New York Post, employees claim that the order to return office was in retaliation for their campaign to unionise.

By the end of August, about 80 employees -- around 45 per cent of Grindr’s 180-person workforce -- had resigned from the company due to the mandate.

According to the labour group Communications Workers of America (CWA), Grindr informed its staff last month that they had two weeks to decide whether they would relocate to an office location and work on-site two days per week or terminate their employment.

Grindr provided a severance package to employees who were unable or unwilling to comply with the relocation requirement, which the union group described as an attempt "to silence workers from speaking out about their working conditions", the report mentioned.

"These decisions have left Grindr dangerously understaffed and raises questions about the safety, security and stability of the app for users," Erick Cortez, a member of Grindr United-CWA, was quoted as saying.

"It is clear Grindr wants workers to be silenced and deterred from exercising our right to organise, regardless of the expense," he added.

Grindr employees had announced their intention to unionise through CWA on July 20, but the labour drive has yet to be formalised.

On August 4, the company announced its mandate for employees to return to work, the report said.

Moreover, the CWA has filed a formal complaint regarding the company's actions with the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of Grindr employees.

A Grindr spokesperson said the claims have "no merit".

"We have full confidence in our team and their ability to continue to drive the business forward and make the world and lives of our users freer, more tolerant, and more just," the spokesperson was quoted as saying.

"We are looking forward to returning to the office in a hybrid model in October and further improving productivity and collaboration for our entire team," it added.

Meanwhile, several Amazon workers have reportedly chosen to quit rather than relocate to various main work hubs.

According to a report from Insider, Amazon's CEO Andy Jassy told employees who don’t want to return to the office that “it’s not going to work out for you”.

"It’s past the time to disagree and commit. If you can’t disagree and commit, it’s probably not going to work out for you at Amazon because we are going back to the office at least three days a week," he was quoted as saying.