Grindr loses about half its workers after trying to make them come back to the office

• Grindr lost nearly half its staff after issuing a return-to-office ultimatum.
• The dating app told employees to start working from an office 2 days a week or lose their jobs.

Grindr lost almost half its workforce after the dating app told staff to come back to the office two days a week.

Last month the LGBTQ+ dating app told employees to starting work in the office two days a week from October or face dismissal after August 31.

Grindr gave workers two weeks to decide whether they would relocate near its three offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, or the San Francisco Bay Area.

About 80 of Grindr's 178 employees declined to relocate and were forced to resign, the Communications Workers of America said Wednesday in a statement reported by Bloomberg.

The Grindr United-CWA union was formed in July and the Communication Workers of America has now filed two unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board on its behalf, Bloomberg reported.

"This decision threatens the livelihoods of dozens of workers who do not live near their assigned team's office," the CWA said in an August update.

A representative for Grindr told Bloomberg the union claims were without merit and that it was "returning to the office in a hybrid model in October."

Grindr didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.

The company has offered to help its remaining staff with relocation expenses, and was giving six months pay to departing workers, Wired reported.

Grindr merged with blank check company Tiga Acquisition Corp in a $2.1 billion deal in November. Its previous Chinese owner, Beijing Kunlun Tech, was forced to sell the company in 2020 to Delaware-based San Vicente Acquisition for $609 million after the US government deemed it a national security risk.

Mandating a return to the office is a hot topic in the tech world now as a growing number of companies including Meta, Google and Amazon issue RTO directives.

Google has been telling employees to show up at the office three days a week since April 2022, and Meta followed suit in June. Meta and Google are both monitoring attendance.

Are you a current or former Grindr employee? Contact this reporter in confidence at jmann@insider.com