Kerala requests an investigation as Byju’s closes its office and fires personnel

• ByStartupStory     |    October 27, 2022

Byju’s, a significant player in the edtech industry, is said to have closed its Technopark office in Thiruvananthapuram and required all of its staff members to resign. The administration would look into the situation, according to V Sivankutty, the minister of general education and labour in Kerala.

On Wednesday, Sivankutty said on Facebook that “workers of Byju’s app had come to meet me together with the executives of Prathidhwani, an IT employees’ welfare organisation.” The employees’ complaints are numerous, including job loss. A thorough inquiry will be carried out in this regard by the labour department.

140 employees were reportedly let go from Byju’s Technopark office. A corporate representative addressed the Technopark problem by saying, “Byju’s is making every effort to offer relevant relocation possibilities to the impacted employees as part of this continuing organisational reorganisation for profitable growth.” To decrease redundancy, we are ceasing certain of our Trivandrum operations, but we are also giving the full Trivandrum workforce the option to move to Bengaluru.

A group of Technopark IT specialists said in a Tuesday LinkedIn post that Byju’s intends to cease operations from Thiruvananthapuram “without any prior notification to employees.”According to the report, Prathidhwani requested the state government’s help at the meeting with Sivankutty. According to the LinkedIn post, the organisation also requested monetary compensation as well as the cashing out of all accrued vacation days.

The claims have been refuted by Byju’s. The firm spokeswoman added, “We have given them (the fired employees) more than a month to decide on this topic. We have provided a comprehensive and progressive exit package to all workers affected by the restructuring, including extended health insurance benefits, outplacement services, and garden leave if they decide not to take advantage of this opportunity. Even better, this deal includes a guaranteed chance to get hired again by Byju’s within the next 12 months at any operational centre in India.

The most valued unicorn in India had earlier this month said that it would gradually “rationalise” around 5% of its 50,000-person workforce across divisions like product, content, media, and technology. This results in about 2,500 workers being laid off.

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