Canadian tech company Hopper cutting 30% of staff to reach profitability

One of Canada’s largest private technology companies has announced sweeping layoffs.

According to The Globe and Mail, Hopper Inc., a Montreal-based online travel services provider, has cut 30 per cent of its full-time staff, or 250 jobs, in an effort to reach profitability.

“We were running a lot of initiatives that were not revenue-generating, we’ve always done that,” Hopper CEO Fred Lalonde told The Globe in an interview.

“But the world has changed, money is no longer free. And we need to move to profitability. There is no magical secret to why we’re doing this, it’s to cut our burn rate and arrive to break even as fast as possible.”

Lalonde added that the reduction has nothing to do with a possible slowdown in travel prompted by economic uncertainty.

Hopper employs a total workforce of more than 1,400 people, according to the company’s LinkedIn page. Over 250 workers are located in Canada.

Major tech layoffs continue

The job cuts at Hopper come amid a flurry of tech sector layoffs in 2023.

Big names, including Epic Games, Google, Roku, Dell, Telus, Amazon, Microsoft, Ritual, and Meta, are significantly scaling back their staffing levels as they continue to navigate challenging economic conditions.

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Termination agreements for Hopper employees

In Canada, non-unionized employees at Hopper are owed full severance pay when they lose their jobs due to downsizing, corporate restructuring, or the closure of the business.

This includes individuals working full-time, part-time, or hourly in Ontario, Alberta, and B.C.

People working “on contract” or as a contractor may also be owed severance pay — given that many employees in Canada are often misclassified as independent contractors.

Severance can be as much as 24 months’ pay, depending on a number of factors.

LEARN MORE
• Severance pay technology industry employees
• Rights to severance for provincially regulated employees
• Severance entitlements during mass layoffs

WATCH: Employment lawyer Lior Samfiru explains why you are still owed severance if you have been downsized on an episode of the Employment Law Show.

Before you accept any severance offer, have an experienced employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP review it and your employment contract.

We can tell you if what you have been provided is fair and how to get proper severance if it falls short of what you are actually owed.

If you don’t receive the full amount, which happens often, you have been wrongfully dismissed and are entitled to compensation.

In some cases, employers pressure staff into accepting poor severance packages, such as imposing a deadline for accepting the offer.

Non-unionized employees in Canada have up to two years from the date of their dismissal to pursue a claim for full severance pay.