Williston-based insurance startup Polly laid off 47 employees nationwide this week, the company told VTDigger on Friday.
These employees make up approximately 15% of the company’s workforce. Ben Jastatt, senior director of communications at Polly, said 17 of the people who lost their jobs were based in Vermont.
Polly, who changed her name from DealerPolicy earlier this year, sells car insurance plans through car dealerships, allowing customers to purchase insurance when buying a car.
The announcement comes about 16 months after the company, founded in 2015, received a $110 million Goldman Sachs investment, Jastatt said. The Burlington Free Press reported at the time that the company planned to triple the size of its workforce.
Jastatt said Polly decided to lay off all 47 employees due to “inflationary pressures” in the auto industry, and the company faced “a much more demanding economic climate” in 2022 than in previous years.
“We take this as an opportunity to become more capital and resource efficient in 2023, so that we can continue to prepare the business for success down the road,” he said.
But two former employees interviewed by VTDigger expressed skepticism about the company’s reasoning.
A former sales agent, who asked not to be named because he planned to continue working in the insurance industry, said the company hired ‘far too many people too quickly’ after the investment from Goldman Sachs.
“I think the problem is that they were anticipating faster growth,” the employee said.
Jastatt said the company would offer severance pay to terminated employees based on seniority. It also planned to pay for unused paid vacation, pay bonuses to some employees, provide outplacement assistance, and allow employees to keep their laptops to help them find new work.
“We did our best to do everything in our power to over-communicate, treat everyone affected with dignity, respect, support, whatever we could (do) to help them through the transition,” did he declare.
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