In April 2019, honestbee reportedly didn’t have the funds to pay its staff for the month.
Late salary payments have happened twice this year so far, according to TechCrunch.
Responding to such media reports, honestbee released a media statement on April 30 claiming that “this is untrue“.
“We will ensure that all employees, across all markets, are paid in a timely manner,” it added.
Fast forward three months later and after a change in leadership, honestbee changed its tune and confirmed that there have been delays in staff salary.
One former employee told Vulcan Post that he received his June salary only two weeks after he left the company in early July.
Another former employee told Vulcan Post that her May salary was delayed for a week.
When asked if honestbee gave any explanation for the delay, she said “the money they were expecting did not come in”.
She did not elaborate what this “money” referred to, but it highly likely points to a confirmed new round of funding.
In a company townhall session on July 4, honestbee said that two rounds of fresh funds will be injected into the company within the next two weeks.
Salary Delays Are Communicated To Staff
A honestbee spokesperson told Marketing Interactive that these salary delays were all communicated clearly to staff and the firm will continue to remain transparent.
It also did not reveal how many staff are affected in Singapore.
While there were salary delays in recent months, these were communicated to staff and payments were made in a timely manner. … The new management team has taken steps to remain transparent by communicating any salary delays to staff first-hand.
We understand the significant impact this has on our staff and their families and remain committed to meeting our financial obligations to them in a timely manner.
– honestbee
In terms of other business updates, honestbee recently temporarily halted its operations in Malaysia and laid off more staff in Japan, following an earlier round of layoff in May.
In Singapore, its vice president of marketing Christina Lim has also left the firm to pursue her own ambitions.
She is now focused on consulting work for companies, helping to drive changes in terms of business operations and growth.
Before her, many other senior executives have also left the firm, including co-founders Isaac Tay and Joel Sng, as well as managing director Chris Urban.
Featured Image Credit: honestbee
