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The restaurant industry has been thrown into turmoil by the COVID-19 pandemic, and that in turn has forced 7shifts to issue temporary layoffs.

The Saskatoon-based tech company makes employee scheduling software for restaurants. With the implementation of social distancing and restaurant closures around the world, that in turn has had an impact on the subscription fees restaurants pay 7shifts. As a result, the company recently had to temporarily lay off 40 employees and put a hiring freeze in place for the foreseeable future.

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“While this is not a decision we have come to lightly, these actions allow us to better navigate the current situation and be ready to quickly scale our operations to serve restaurants everywhere once they reopen their own businesses,” said 7shifts CEO Jordan Boesch in an email.

7shifts said all staff affected by the layoffs will maintain their benefits.

Aaron Genest, the chair of the advocacy organization Sask Tech, said job losses in the province’s tech sector will be “inevitable,” but he doesn’t think there will be the same kind of mass layoffs seen in other industries. Rather, the effects will be seen in fast-growing tech companies implementing hiring freezes.