A latest report revealed that the Business development associates(BDA) from Byju’s who failed to meet more than 70 percent of their weekly sales target for eight weeks would be evaluated by their managers and the HR team.
Byju’s Firing Its BDAs
Also, “appropriate action” would be taken, including separation without a performance improvement programme (PIP).
It was confirmed by a screenshot of the notification that was sent to sales executives “My manager keeps saying things like this in front of everyone. And it’s not just my manager, all the seniors here are like that. It’s very common. So, I wasn’t very worried about losing my job as these are usual pressure tactics,” said Tanna, 26, is a business development associate (BDA), or sales executive, at the Bengaluru office of Byju’s.
Further adding, “Even after the policy notification, we all thought this was just to increase pressure on us so that we generate more sales. None of us expected to exit without PIP to happen. But on the same day, we saw the news that Byju’s is laying off 2,500 employees and our WhatsApp groups started buzzing immediately. While many said they saw it coming, the fact that was actually happening was a completely different feeling.”
In fact, Tanna was referring to Byju’s announcement on October 12 that the company would lay off 5 percent of its workforce, or about 2,500 employees, across departments, to rationalize the costs.
So now, thousands of BDAs like Tanna are anxiously waiting and hoping that they do not receive pink slips.
Byju’s Serving Performance Notices
As we know, more than 5,000 employees across departments, out of Byju’s total workforce of over 50,000, have been given performance notices, according to multiple sources.
Basically, these BDAs are full-time employees of Byju’s who work as sales executives.
It appears that the edtech company has started issuing pink slips to its employees following the assessment.
Strong Denial From Byju’s
In response to queries, a spokesperson for Byju’s said, “We strongly deny that 5,000 employees ‘across departments’ have been given what you call a ‘notice’. There has not been any change in our payment structure, whether fixed or variable, for our BDAs,”.
Further adding, “Sales employees are, of course, given monthly and quarterly targets but those targets are not rigid. Indeed, targets are the industry-established method to objectively measure sales performance in order to provide more incentives, awards and promotions to the best performers. What cannot be measured cannot be improved,”.
The aggressive cost rationalization is justified as the world’s most-valued edtech startup posted the biggest-ever loss of Rs 4,589 crore for an Indian startup in FY21 and spooked its investors.
Recently, the edtech company has raised $250 million at an unchanged valuation of $22 billion, suggesting a flattening of Byju’s otherwise steep valuation curve.
Following the event, Byju’s has shifted its focus to profitability over growth for the coming financial year, as per a recent statement by its India operations head Mrinal Mohit.
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