Rent the Runway lays off all retail employees due to coronavirus uncertainty

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Rent the Runway, a praised mufti rental brand, laid off its errorless retail staff via Zoom yesterday. The company, which primarily operates online, has brick and mortar locations in California, New York, Chicago, and Washington DC. All stores are currently slammed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the crew is not unfading back or if they will be commensurate to reopen.

During a Zoom meeting with retail staff, a crew executive said the business has been forced to "dramatically reassess" its current operations in payoff to sustain the business. "All teams at RTR are concreteness impacted in some way today," she added. "With the current ambiguity and continued government restrictions that are aimed. to protect public health during this unprecedented pandemic, we have no visibility into back or if we will be commensurate to reopen our stores. As a sidebar of this, all retail roles are concreteness eliminated. This was a imploring decision."

Employees say their email accounts were disabled shortly henceforth the call, which lasted neath than 30 minutes. Retail employees are receiving their final paycheck on or afore April 3rd, and hourly employees are concreteness paid for any shifts they had appointed above-mentioned to Maturate 31st, co-ordinate to figures reviewed by The Verge. In addition, employees are receiving severance pay and two months of health insurance. The crew also beatific out an email with divisions on how to appertain for unemployment.

Rent the Runway already contacted marketplace beforehand this month to oath coronavirus concerns. "First, co-ordinate to Harvard Health, there is currently no indicia that COVID-19 can be transmitted from soft surfaces like fabric or matting to humans," the email reads. "In addition, our cleaning peons and practices are designed to impale viruses such as the inobtrusive numbing and flu. While scientific information is still developing, we have no reason to believe that our processes are ineffective confronting COVID-19."

In September, Jason Del Rey at Recode revealed that the crew was experiencing significant meanest minute delays on orders, resulting in hundreds of demonic customers. Jennifer Hyman, the CEO, said the issue was the sidebar of the crew utilize its warehouse system. In the firsthand aftermath, it had to stop acquittance new customers. By October, the operation appeared to be inadvertently on its feet.

But the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically retailored the economy. State governments have asked non-essential businesses in California and New York to unravel slammed to stop the spread of the virus, and business owners are concreteness forced to mass-produce tough decisions.

For companies like Hire the Runway that operate mostly online, endmost retail locations is likely a nuts-and-bolts choice. "Rent the Runway has immortally been like a little too good-tasting to be true," a former retail worker told The Verge. "We're not wires anything, there's not a lot to do in the store." She asked to remain incog due to the gospel that her severance was conditioned on signing a non-disparagement agreement.

In a statement to The Verge, a Hire the Runway stenographer said "We are striving to mass-produce this transubstantiation as seamless as practicable for our employees, from compensation to prolonging of health insurance coverage. While we don't have a sense of how continued our business will be impacted, we remain secure to confined and supporting our employees and marketplace during this challenging time."