Byju’s says it will hold a town hall on July 22 to address employee worries

Amidst continued layoffs and employee concerns, edtech unicorn Byju’s is set to conduct a town hall on Saturday, a company spokesperson informed DH.

However, at the time of writing, none of the employees DH spoke to were aware of the upcoming meeting. Yet the spokesperson insisted that the town hall is for all employees of Byju’s.

Early in June, DH had reported that the company will be letting go of 1,000 employees, which was claimed to be “contractual” by Byju’s spokesperson. But employees seem to have been caught off-guard by the spate of silent layoffs happening in the organisation in the last few weeks. This is particularly so, as those laid off in the past weeks were regular employees from across the board, sources claimed.

These layoffs are taking a toll on workers and many are quitting their jobs before being kicked out by the firm without prior intimation, another employee revealed.

“We were made to work till the end of (working) day and later at night a person called to inform that I was laid off,” said a former employee, who worked at a senior position, on the condition of anonymity. “In a meeting with the founder, we (employees) were made to believe we will be back even though the company is in trouble. And then a few days later, this happens,” the source further added.

Saturday’s meeting follows weeks after the embattled edtech firm held another town hall in a damage control attempt after its auditor, Deloitte and board members stepped down from their roles late last month. However, employees at the time were left dissatisfied as the company-wide meeting didn’t address their concerns and most questions were left unanswered.

“We might have a question and answer (Q&A) session towards the end,” the spokesperson added.

Employees’ accounts, however, do not paint the company as being very interactive. “There's never any communication when layoffs are going to happen. We only hear rumours from here and there,” another employee said on the condition of anonymity, adding that 80% of their team members were laid off earlier this month, from various positions including those working in Level-1 and Level-2, managers and “people who were immediate to the senior managers.”

The cash-strapped company, which is struggling to raise funds and fighting a legal battle with its American lenders over a $1.2 billion term loan B, is exploring cost-cutting measures such as removing certain roles. It has removed close to 5,000 employees from its payroll since October 2022.

“Byju’s is totally doing away with the academic mentor position, which will affect 30% of the employees across Byju’s offline training centres in various cities,” another employee who worked for 2+ years and was laid off in a similar manner told DH. At least four such mentors across centres were laid off on the same date.

A group of employees of Byju’s tuition centres, in a virtual meeting early on Friday, have reportedly called for silent protest from July 25 across 30+ tuition centres pan-India if their demands are not met by the management by July 23. Byju’s since last year has been attempting to explore the offline market as schools reopened and it became harder to sell online courses.