UK payments startup Checkout.com fired several employees earlier this year due to harassment complaints that arose from an off-site trip to Cyprus, according to people familiar with the matter.
(Bloomberg) — UK payments startup Checkout.com fired several employees earlier this year due to harassment complaints that arose from an off-site trip to Cyprus, according to people familiar with the matter.
Following concerns raised in May, Checkout conducted an investigation that led to the termination of six members from its 120-person UK commercial team, a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy for any behavior that is not in line with our values. Any complaint will always be taken seriously and acted on,” the company said in the statement. “Since May, we have carried out mandatory in-person workplace culture training for the UK Commercial team facilitated by an external provider, and have developed a standalone Harassment & Bullying Policy to strengthen our existing framework.”
Checkout was last valued at $40 billion in January, following an investment from backers such as the Qatar Investment Authority and Tiger Global Management. The company processes payments for firms such as Pizza Hut Inc., and competes with Stripe Inc. and Adyen NV. At the start of the year, Checkout said it had more than 1,700 employees in 19 countries.
In late May, Chief Revenue Officer Nick Worswick sent an email to commercial staffers about the trip, saying the company was taking disciplinary action including terminating two members of the team following complaints, and that the company would not tolerate any kind of harassment, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company later terminated some additional staffers as part of an ongoing investigation, the people said, asking not to be identified because the decision wasn’t public. Checkout’s investigation was launched within 24 hours of the allegations being raised, one of the people said. The exact details of the complaints could not be learned.
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