Several employees of ed-tech major Byju's said their dues, including incentives, have not been paid; company rejects allegations.
EdTech firm Byju's is in the midst of a financial crisis. (X)
A toxic work culture, massive layoffs, harassment of employees and customers… allegations have been pounding ed-tech major Byju’s for the past few weeks. Now, senior employees, specifically from the firm’s Business Team, have called for a nationwide peaceful agitation, a Town Hall, from Tuesday, 25 July.
Zia Nomani was an Area Business Head (ABH) of Byju’s in Bengaluru till Saturday, 22 July, the day on which he was fired. He shared his insights about the firm, which figured on the list of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential companies in 2021.
“Byju’s is not a scam. It is the best opportunity for crores of Indians for whom quality education is inaccessible. But the company is being run by a few, who are turning it into a scam with their mismanagement,” he said.
“The last six months have been tough. We have gone through the worst an organisation can ever think of. But with spirits high, all of us proud #Byjuites continued to work and served the noble cause. Many of us have been taken to police stations following complaints by customers, and we were on our own,” he told South First.
“Layoffs have become normal. We are just 10,000 today, from 55,000 just five months ago. What’s alarming is not the layoffs, but the way employees are being harassed and deprived of a respectful work environment and exit,” Nomani alleged.
“I had been one of the topmost performers at Byju’s and among a few lucky ones who were not laid off. But the work culture now has gone from toxic to deadly. And other colleagues and I have been raising concerns with the HR, Chief Operating Officer (COO) Mrinal Mohit for a long time now through all possible internal channels. We were never heard,” he said.
On Friday, 21 July, all ABHs got together and decided to give a memorandum to Mohit over non-payment of dues.
“We decided that if our demands were not met by 23 July midnight, we would stop work on 25th, but will serve the customers. The idea was to organise a peaceful, non-cooperative strike along the lines of Gandhiji’s satyagraha,” Nomani stated.
Soon after the meeting, Nomani was asked to meet Mohit at Byju’s IBC Knowledge Park office on Saturday.
“I refused to meet anyone individually and requested a group meeting. A video call was arranged with Human Resources Head Pradeep, HR Director Habeeb, and Vice President (Sales) Shrimn Nishit. I explained my position for 1.5 hours, but they tried to convince me, put pressure on me, and threatened me of consequences if I went ahead with the protest. I made it clear that if we don’t get Mohit’s written assurance by 23 July midnight, we will launch a protest across 300+ Byju’s Tuition Centers on the 25th,” Nomani stated.
Fifteen minutes after this meeting, Nomani’s official ID was deactivated and he was informed by his reporting manager that he had been terminated.
“I called HR to understand the reason, but no answer. I refused to submit the assets and will now be handing the same to the honourable court of law, which I will be moving against this illegal termination. I am a proud #Byjuite and will continue to strive for quality education that is accessible to all,” Nomani told South First.
Meanwhile, the ed-tech major convened an emergency Town Hall meeting of its over 5,000 tuition centre employees and agreed to disburse the variable pay and other incentives. It also assured that there won’t be any further layoffs, Moneycontrol reported.
Nomani viewed the assurance as a corporate tactic to temporarily pacify the employees.
A Byju’s insider, who holds a senior position, explained the ecosystem of the ed-tech major and the alleged “mistakes” that are leading to its downfall.
The employee explained that the Byju’s Tablet Learning Programme had three main teams: Sales, Academics, and Business.
The sales team enrolled students into the system, collected fees, and ensured their renewal year after year. The team would employ youngsters aged between 21 and 25, who were “very aggressive” in sales, promising them incentives.
“There were many complaints against the sales team for closing sales on false promises, and we provided their team heads with proof, but no action was initiated,” the senior employee said. “Their job is to enroll a student into the system and make sure that the fee is paid in full or the EMI facility is initiated.”
It is the Academic team employees who would take care of the study material, and also provide logistics such as tabs, books, and other accessories to the students.
“These tablets would have Secure Digital (SD) memory cards with recorded online sessions that the students could listen to and then appear for examinations,” the employee told South First.
There are also additional teams tied up with the Academic team, such as the financial operations team, service team, logistics team, as well as technical support.
The third and the most important team is the Business Team for which only the best graduates from top B-schools, IITs, and IIMs were recruited, the employee added.
Byju’s, over the past decade, enrolled thousands of students across the country who had been receiving lessons through Byju’s Tablet Learning Programme — and the business was good.
However, in October 2021, Byju’s came up with a hybrid concept to open tuition centres across the country. The hybrid tuition centre concept was the brainchild of the Business Team, and the team members toiled hard, and within one year, they managed to open around 303 tuition centres across India.
However, the founder of the company, Byju Raveendran, had not visited even one of the centres, the employee said. “Byju Raveendran is now busy searching for investors across the world,” he added.
Soon after the tuition centres were opened across India, the sales team aggressively enrolled students. Once around 75,000 students were enrolled, the firm started laying off employees.
“They started laying off one section of employees after the other. Initially, the finance operations were shut down, then the service team, then the logistics team, and then the employees from technical support were fired. Within a matter of five to six months, the company’s strength, which was around 55,000 dwindled to 10,000 across the country,” he further said.
Meanwhile, the ed-tech major fell into a crisis, with employees complaining about the non-payment of reimbursements, incentives, variable pay, etc.
There was also a video of a heated argument over pending incentives between a woman employee and her seniors that had gone viral on social media.
Kalesh b/w Employee and Byjus Companyy over giving lot’s of mental pressure during job (Unfortunately Girl is missing since then) pic.twitter.com/xzgIUbqjeq
— Ghar Ke Kalesh (@gharkekalesh) July 22, 2023
Byju’s insiders said around 10,000 students are seeking a refund from the firm as they are not satisfied with the services. The company, however, is has not returned the money and is not responding properly to customers.
“The actual percentage of renewals of enrollments is only 22 percent, while the core management inflate and show it as 40 percent to the investors,” the senior employee said.
Meanwhile, over the weekend, Byju’s vacated its largest office space in Bengaluru, reportedly to cut costs and shore up liquidity amid a delay in funding from investors.
The ed-tech major has also vacated a portion of another office space in the city.
Byju’s has three offices in the city: IBC Knowledge Park on Bannerghatta Road, the Prestige Tech Park at Kadubeesanahalli near Bellandur, and Kalyani Tech Park, which is the main and the biggest office spread over around 5.58 lakh square feet.
The employees have been asked to work from the other two offices or home from 23 July, sources said. The company has vacated two of the nine floors of its Prestige Tech Park office as well.
According to Moneycontrol, Byju’s took two buildings — Magnolia and Ebony — in Kalyani Tech Park at Brookfield on lease in June last year. It vacated Magnolia last month, shifting the employees to Ebony.
It asked all the employees to work from Prestige Tech Park and its main office on Bannerghatta Main Road. Now, Ebony is being vacated and the process will be completed by August, reports said.
When South First contacted Byju’s Corporate Communications, a spokesperson said the allegations were being made by a few disgruntled employees.
“The allegations by a couple of employees cannot be considered as issues of the entire workforce. The Byju’s ecosystem is much bigger and it employs thousands across the country. There would be issues, and the top management is aware of them and is taking measures to solve them amicably,” the spokesperson said.
A detailed questionnaire was sent to the company as requested by Byju’s. This report will be updated with the ed-tech firm’s response, when there is one.
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