Over 140 people would be impacted by the decision to stop operations in Thiruvanthapuram by Byju’s, the most valuable edtech business in the world. Byju’s planned to cease operations in the city ‘without any previous notice to staff,’ according to TechnoparkToday, a community network for IT experts, which described the move as a ‘forced resignation’. The staff of Byju’s in Thiruvananthapuram met with Prathidhwani, a welfare organisation for IT workers, during the previous few days, and together they asked Kerala’s labour minister V Sivankutty to step in and ask the business to change its exit policy.
According to the association, Byju’s did not show up for the meeting on October 25. While the group said there are more than 170 employees in Thiruvananthapuram, Byju’s maintained that approximately 140 workers are likely to be impacted by this move. The business also claimed to be offering a ‘rich and progressive departure compensation,’ but according to its employees, they were only formally told of their ‘instant layoff’ through emails and phone calls and there were no discussions of any package.
‘While we are ceasing operations in Trivandrum to decrease redundancies, we are also providing the whole Trivandrum workforce with the opportunity to migrate to Bengaluru. They have had more than a month to make up their minds’, according to a Byju’s representative. ‘ If they choose not to take advantage of this option…(there is) an assured possibility to be rehired by Byju’s during the following 12 months at any operational centre throughout India,’ the spokesperson continued. ‘Since Byju’s has already created the content, they are now claiming that the majority of the individuals on the creative team are no longer necessary and are being forced to resign, in a manner akin to a layoff’, according to Vineeth Chandran, secretary at Prathidhwani.
Byju’s is requesting resignations from staff by October 25 and will reimburse them for those days’ wages on November 1. ‘ For anyone to find a job, the notice period is too short. Stress has been brought on by this abrupt resignation. Because of these rash choices, many Byju employees are succumbing to despair’, he continued.
The Kerala government and Byju’s are hoping to work together to find a solution, according to Chandran, who also stated that Byju’s is likely to attend the upcoming meeting on October 31. These changes occur after Byju’s announced it will ‘rationalise’ and ‘optimise’ its operations to become profitable by March 2023 and aims to terminate roughly 2,500 employees from the product, content, media, and technology teams in a ‘phased way’. After the firm recorded a loss of over ‘4,500 crore in financial year (FY) 2021 on the back of a revenue of ‘2,280 crore, the biggest in the space, the decision to reduce the cash burn was made.
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