After Better.com, this company has fired hundreds of employees over video call

Protests have erupted in Britain against shipping company P&O Ferries' mass layoffs.

A British shipping company has sacked 800 employees over video call, similar to the shock dismissals at American mortgage company Better.com last year.

Employees of P&O Ferries were informed in a sudden call that Thursday would be the "final day of employment", BBC reported.

P&O Ferries wants to replace sacked employees with cheaper workers, saying that its business will not be feasible without the move.

Protests have erupted against the company and even the British government has criticised it for the way it treated its employees.

“The way that staff, who have given years of dedicated service to P&O and played a critical role in keeping our country going during the pandemic, have been treated has been appalling,” British labour markets minister Paul Scully and Secretary of State for business said in a letter to the company’s chief executive officer.

They added that the company had lost people’s trust and given business “a bad name”, and sought an explanation from the CEO.

Meanwhile, P&O Ferries CEO Peter Hebblethwaite said it was implementing a new crewing model that would cut costs by 50 percent, The Independent reported.

“(It was a) very difficult but necessary and pivotal decision, which was only taken after seriously considering all the available options,” the CEO added.

Before the sackings at P&O Ferries, Better.com had laid of 900 employees in the US and India in December over a single Zoom call. The company’s CEO Vishal Garg had cited performance and productivity as the reasons behind his move.

After the sackings sparked anger, Garg went on leave and issued an apology. He returned to his position in January.