Business setbacks amid the coronavirus pandemic has forced Viagogo to make staffing changes.
The European ticketing platform has put all employees at its customer service center in Limerick, Ireland on “protective notice” for a period of 30 days. The measure aims to reduce costs by switching select full-time employees to part-time hours and leaving others on a temporary leave.
“Today, VGL Support Services Ireland Ltd announced that after careful consideration it intends to enter into a 30 day consultation process to reduce our employee numbers,” reads a company email obtained by local publication The Limerick Leader. “We understand this is very difficult news to hear and wanted to communicate with employees at the earliest point possible. The degree of impact on the business will depend on the severity and length of disruption.”
Viagogo went on to say that the decision was not a reflection of employees but rather the current state of the industry, which has come to a standstill as the virus sweeps the globe. The ticketing leader concluded that current business conditions left them “no choice but to reduce staffing” at the Irish location.
The staffing changes from Viagogo mirrors the measures taken by its subsidiary StubHub. Last month, StubHub announced it had furloughed two-thirds of its workforce through June in response to the sudden changes within the industry. The company has since faced more troubles by changing its cancellation policy from issuing refunds to vouchers only, a move that recently led to a lawsuit by a consumer.