Employees not forced to resign, it's part of 5% workforce reduction: BYJU's

Bengaluru, Oct 29 (IANS) Amid reports of forcing its employees to resign, edtech major BYJU's said on Saturday that it is not forcing its staff in Karnataka or elsewhere to resign or face terminations, and the whole exercise is part of the 5 per cent reduction in its 50,000-strong workforce as announced earlier.

Earlier this month, BYJU's had announced to reduce 5 per cent of its 50,000-strong workforce (about 2,500 people), which will be "rationalised across product, content, media, and technology teams in a phased manner" in a bid to consolidate its India business.

The Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU) has claimed that BYJU's, after Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, is now forcing employees to resign at its Bengaluru headquarters.

"It is absolutely false that BYJU's is forcing employees to resign. BYJU's is a responsible organisation and follows all the laws of the land. BYJU'S employs nearly 50,000 people across India. Around 5 per cent, or 2,500, of these positions are being rationalised as part of the current strategic plan to grow profitably and sustainably," the edtech unicorn told IANS.

The company also said that each employee affected by the restructuring is being informed individually.

"BYJU'S is providing all of them a progressive exit package, including extended family health insurance benefits, outplacement services, fast-track full-and-final settlement on demand and the provision of 'garden leave', where they can look for jobs while on BYJU'S payroll," a company spokesperson said.

Earlier, the edtech unicorn had decided to shut operations at the Technopark campus in Thiruvananthapuram following which the employees approached the state labour department.

Around 140 employees from the 170-strong workforce at Technopark have been asked to leave. BYJY's has nearly 3,000 employees in Kerala.

The company said it will be strengthening its presence in the state going forward.

"All these employees will also be offered an assured path to return to BYJU's in case they are unable to find a job in the next 12 months," it added.

The company said that in an ongoing organisational restructuring for profitable growth, "BYJU'S is making every attempt to offer relevant relocation opportunities to the affected employees".

"In this regard, while we are discontinuing part of our Thiruvananthapuram operations to reduce redundancy, we are also offering the entire team at Technopark an opportunity to relocate to Bengaluru," it added.

BYJU'S also said that it will add three more offices in the state in the present financial year, taking the total number to 14 besides increasing the number of employees in Kerala from 3,000 to nearly 3,600.