BYJU's Lay-Offs To Be Investigated, Says Kerala Government

BYJU'S laid off about 100 employees from its media content division in Kerala, days after it announced a plan to improve profitability by March next year by cutting its workforce by 5 per cent to lower costs.

BYJU'S spokesperson said, the firm "is in a path to profitability, targets to achieve it by March 2023."

"One of the measures is the rationalisation of a maximum of 5 per cent of our 50,000-strong workforce across product, content, media and technology teams in a phased manner," said the spokesperson.

Those distressed employees met General Education and Labour Minister for Kerala, V Sivankutty, who said on social media that his ministry would take the matter seriously and investigate it.

"At technopark, Thiruvananthapuram Employees of BYJU'S app came and met me with the office bearers of IT employees welfare organisation Echo of Technopark. Employees have many complaints, including job losses. The Labor Department will conduct a serious inspection in this matter," said the Minister.

The firing of about 100 employees follows the Edtech giant's announcement that it would cut up to 2,500 jobs, or 5 per cent of its workforce, to reduce costs as it works to attain company-level profitability by March 2023.

The Edtech firm's spokesperson, in response to Kerala Ministers' social media post, said, the rules of the employment contracts were strictly followed during the restructuring process at BYJU'S, and it was done so with compassion and fairness.

"We understand that this is a tough situation; so to make this less painful, we have created a dedicated outplacement team who will help the affected employees get a suitable job," said the spokesperson

"In a first-of-its-kind step, BYJU'S has also decided to rehire them if they don't get any employment within 12 months from their date of separation from us. All the departing employees are being made aware of all these provisions and benefits," added the spoeksperson.

The co-founder and CEO, Byju Raveendran, of the Edtech firm, which is one of India's most-valued startups, comes from a small seaside village of Azhikode in Kerala.

BYJU'S also attracted the government's attention when it delayed reporting its financials for 2021.

Edtech major BYJU'S clocked a revenue of Rs 2,428 crore in the financial year that ended in 2021, but reported a loss of Rs 4,588 crores for 2021, making it the biggest loss-making startup in the country.