Daybreak - Byju’s employees are getting blocklisted by recruiters

Episode Date: August 1, 2023

Once upon a time, not too long ago actually, Byju's was the world’s most valuable edtech. Now, though, it's in a big mess. And that’s putting it mildly.However, Byju’s employees got the worst end of the stick because of all the company has been going through. The Ken spoke to employees who told us they were fired arbitrarily without notice. In fact, they said they are being forced to resign.And like that wasn't enough to deal with, some companies have specifically told recruiters not to look at Byju’s employees.Tune in to find out why.Recommendation: Indian lenders cut off Byju’s air supply by not lending to its usersThe seven things you need to know about Byju’s FY21 financialsDaybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Hi, this is Rohan Dharma Kumar. If you've heard any of the Ken's podcasts, you've probably heard me, my interruptions, my analogies, and my contrarian takes on most topics. And you might rightly be wondering why am I interrupting this episode too. It's for a special announcement. For the last few months, I and Sita Ramon Ganeshan, my colleague and the Ken's deputy editor, have been working on an ambitious new podcast. It's called Intermission.

We want to tell the secret sauce stories of India's greatest companies. Stories of how they were born, how they fought to survive, how they build their organizations and culture, how they manage to innovate and thrive over decades, and most importantly, how they're poised today. To do that, Sita and I have been reading books, poring over reports, going through financial statements, digging up archives, and talking to dozens of people. And if that wasn't enough, we also decided to throw in video into the mix. Yes, you heard that right. Intermission has also had to find its footing in the world of multi-camera shoots in professional studios, laborious editing and extensive post-production.

Sita and I are still reeling from the intensity of our first studio recording. Intermission launches on March 23rd. To get an alert as soon as we release our first episode, please follow Intermission on Spotify and Apple Podcasts or subscribe to the Ken's YouTube channel. You can find all of the links at the ken.com slash I am. With that, back to your episode. Once upon a time, not too long ago, actually, it was the world's most valuable at tech. Now it is in a big mess, and that is putting it mildly.

I'm quite sure you know who I'm talking about. If you're a regular listener of daybreak, you and I have been tracking the AT-Tech giant's turbulence-ridden journey together for quite some time now. And in case you haven't kept up, that is okay too. Let me quickly put you up to date. In June this year, Deloitte, which is Bayju's statutory audit of three years, resigned in the middle of its five-year term. And then, its investors, namely process, peak.

15 partners and Chan Zuckerberg initiative pulled out their directors from Baiju's board. The company is now dealing with negotiating a $1.2 billion loan. Meanwhile, Indian lenders who used to finance loans for Baidu's users through EMI's have put their hands up. They're out. And just to take you back a little bit further, Baidju's delayed its financials for the year 2021 after its then auditor Deloitte had flagged it, because Deloitte was not satisfied with what byju's was presenting to them as a fair picture of their accounts. And then there was other stuff too

that was bringing in what we call a lot of bad press. Questions were being raised about its problematic sales practices and then there were the layoffs and also funding troubles. And what's even worse is that there is still no sign of the company's financial for the year 2022. Now, like most of us are aware, layoffs have been common among startups since the funding winter set in. But Baiju's employees got the worst end of the stick because of all that the company has been going through.

The Ken spoke to employees who told us that they have been fired arbitrarily without any notice. In fact, they are being forced to resign. And like that wasn't enough to deal with, Some companies have specifically told recruiters not to look at Bayju's employees. But why? Because they are concerned about their ethics. It wasn't too long ago when Baidu's founder was boasting about how his company was the largest startup employee in the country with a headcount of 55,000 people.

You won't believe now the job market has over 24,000 active and accessible talent from Bayju's parent company called Think and Learn Private Limited. According to Prasad M.S, the head of workforce research at staffing firm called Xfino, in just the last two weeks, 3,000 more Bayju's employees are out and about actively looking for jobs. The problem, though, is that many companies have blacklisted them. Who is to blame? Welcome to Daybreak, a business podcast from the Ken.

I'm your host, Nick Das Sharma, and I Don't Chase the News. cycle. Instead, thrice a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I will come to you with one business story that is worth understanding and worth your time. Today is Wednesday, the 2nd of August. Imagine getting an email with a blank subject line from your HR. In the current job scenario and well, economic conditions, it does sound like a nightmare, right? It is exactly what happened to Akang Shah Kha Kha from Kolkata who was working as a biology tutor at Baijjjjjou. She got the dreaded email, joined the meeting link, email by the HR department early on the day, and then boom. The company representative asked her to quit.

And after a year and a half of working at the ed tech during which, by the way, she received three awards, she had to suddenly leave. She told the Ken reporters, Alifia Khan and Vanita Bhatnagar, and I'm quoting, When I resisted, they said that if I didn't, they would sack me and I would face a lot of problems in getting my dues. For resignation, they promised a salary for July by the first of next month and an extra month's salary within 45 days. End quote. A former business manager at the Bangalore office of Bayju's quit four months ago after three years of working there. Why? Because the work pressure started affecting his health. He told us that he still hasn't found a job. Soon enough, he figured out that recruiters were not calling him because Bayju's was on him.

his resume. So he changed it and wrote Think and Learn Private Limited instead. There are numerous stories like this. Bayju's employees are discovering suddenly that they are unhirable. An academic specialist from Odisha who was sacked last week said that he had enrolled in a B-Aid course in June last year when things started going down so he could get a better paying offline job. Yes, the company is down in the dumps, but why, oh, are its employee suffering. Stay tuned to find out. In its glory days, Bayju's was indeed a huge job generator for people in smaller cities and towns, because it was offering remote work. And unfortunately, that is what has made its employees unhirable now. According to Karthik Manderwill, the founder

of HR technology startup called Springworks, most company now want their employees to at least be in the office once or twice a week. But say for someone who wants to continue working from a small town like Raipur, the options are very limited. Then there is also the problem of perception. Vivek Mehta, the director at ABC consultants, told us that when getting hiring mandates, certain companies have specifically told them not to look at Bayju's employees because they are concerned about their ethics. People from Bayju's are not seen as coming from a great company or organization. The perception is that they have been taking shortcuts to growth shown inflated sales and they think now this is exactly what is coming to bite Bayju's employees.

It is not universal, but it has made recruiters cautious. If you remember, Bayju's has already been pulled up for unethical selling practices by the National Commission of Protection of Child rights. Its super aggressive sales strategy backfired on it in the long term. A former business manager from Bangalore told us that BDAs or business development associates would book courses in the name of their relatives or friends by paying an initial deposit of $5,000. There was a 15-day refund period and they knew very well how to do it. For example, they would show a sale of $1,000 but actually there was no sale. Meanwhile, those who have managed to stick around, what is going on with them? Coming up next. For employees who are still working at the ET Tech giant, every single day is a

challenge. After the layoffs in March this year, the company not only stopped giving incentives, but also asked its teachers to take on more responsibilities, things like parent-teacher meetings with each session lasting up to 20 minutes. A physics teacher with Baiju's told the Ken, and I'm quoting, we did five hours of live classes daily, four to six Ptms or parent teacher meetings, paper corrections and reviewed other tutors' lectures. Sometimes we worked for over 10 hours a day. End quote. For others, the absence of work made them restless.

A senior resource in Baiju's product communications team from Delhi told us that their manager changed three times in the last seven months. He said earlier there was quite a lot of work, but after cost-cutting, market spending got cut. So they nearly stopped performance marketing. Since then, they had barely anything to do. Plus, they had to deal with the uncertainty about job security. Basically, it led to a lot of stress amongst employees. And that is not all.

The employees also had angry parents to deal with. A former business development associate who worked with Bayju's for over three years, years shared a video with the ken and it showed parents demanding a refund from them. They called the police to a tuition center in Jodpur, Rajasthan. Though the Ken could not verify the exact date of the incident, the video clearly shows agitated parents, employees and the police. All of this is a lot and I'm sure you can see how this intense pressure to push growth that ultimately fell on Bayju's employees has ended up becoming the source of many.

of its troubles. Like I said, in an earlier episode of Daybreak, in the words of Bob Dylan, the carpet too is moving under you by Jews. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of the Ken, India's first subscriber-focused business news platform. What you're listening to is just a small sample of our subscriber-only offerings. A full subscription unlocks daily long-form feature stories, newsletters, subscriber-only apps and podcast extras.

Head to the Ken.com and click on the Redmond.com. and click on the red subscribe button on the top of the website. I am Snigda Sharma, your host, and today's episode was edited by my colleague Rajiv Sien.