- Edtech major BYJU’s may lay off up to 3,500 employees during the current fiscal as it looks to consolidate teams and enhance regional focus.
- According to the sources, the company had ‘over-hired’ people during the Covid pandemic due to a sudden jump in online education but the demand has now receded.
- Around 1,000 people were already serving notice periods, and another 1,000 have not completed their performance improvement parameters.
- Assessment is still underway. About 3,000-3,500 may be impacted due to the whole exercise,” a source.
- With this, the total number of employees at BYJU’s will fall in the range of 31,000-33,000 compared to the 50,000 workforce at the group level that it announced in October 2022.
Edtech major BYJU’s may lay off up to 3,500 employees during the current fiscal as it looks to consolidate teams and enhance regional focus, sources privy to the development said.
According to one of the sources, BYJU’s had “over-hired” people at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic due to a sudden jump in online education, but the demand has now receded, for which the company needs to do the course correction.
“There has been no retrenchment as of now. The company is in the process of restructuring and assessing demand across various units. Around 1,000 people were already serving notice periods, and another 1,000 have not completed their performance improvement parameters. Assessment is still underway. About 3,000-3,500 may be impacted due to the whole exercise,” a source, who did not wish to be identified, told the news agency.
The sources said this will be the last layoff at BYJU’s payroll and the entire exercise will be over by October end. “The final phase of restructuring intends to optimize business by bringing together multiple divisions and creating a clear accountability-driven structure. The 3,000-3,500 is an estimate and not the target of the company,” the source said.
When contacted, BYJU’s spokesperson said: “We are in the final stages of a business restructuring exercise to simplify operating structures, reduce the cost base, and better cash flow management. BYJU’S new India CEO Arjun Mohan will be completing this process in the next few weeks and will steer a revamped and sustainable operation ahead.” The sources said that several business units were created to meet the growth requirement during the pandemic and there were a few product experiments that were carried out but they did not work out well.
“There will be now a simple organization structure divided between K12 education and other competitive examinations. It will focus on consumer behaviour services. Regional teams will have more accountability. There will be a large focus on hybrid models and tuition centers which need to be run in a decentralized manner with a regional focus,” the source said.
The lay-off exercise is expected to impact 300-400 mid-level employees. With this, the total number of employees at BYJU’s will fall in the range of 31,000-33,000 compared to the 50,000 workforce at the group level that it announced in October 2022.
The sources said most of the employees under third-party payroll and across subsidiaries like BYJU’s Future School, formerly Whitehat Jr., were impacted. The total number of reductions also included those leaving the organization voluntarily, they said.
(With inputs from agencies)
