7 Ex-BYJU’S Employees Reveal How Badly They Were Exploited In The Company

Since its founding in 2011, BYJU’S, the largest ed-tech company in India, has grown quickly and become a well-known name. The platform, which Byju Raveendran founded, has transformed education by providing a personalized and interactive learning experience. The company adapts to different learning styles and makes education more interesting and accessible by fusing cutting-edge teaching techniques, multimedia material, and adaptive learning algorithms.

The platform supports an extensive learning environment by providing content for all grade levels and disciplines. However, amidst this success, the company’s darker narrative has emerged in recent years. It’s all because upsetting testimonies from former workers exposed the company’s terrible workplace culture and exploitative atmosphere.

Despite the passage of time, these tales continue to reverberate online as several former BYJU’s employees bravely come forward to discuss their traumatic experiences. The claims have stirred discussions about the business’ policies and prompted worries about the welfare of its staff.

So, here are some of those instances:

1. BYJU’S employee was asked to resign despite being available for work “24 x 7”

This story is about Arpit Singh, an ex-retention manager at BYJU’S. He posted a LinkedIn post telling how he was asked to resign suddenly without any official notice. Writing about how much he needed this job, he added that he was told to leave despite being available 24×7 for the company.

2. Viral video of an argument between a BYJU’S employee and a senior over remuneration

The video of BYJU’S employee arguing with her senior over remuneration went viral on social media some time ago. In the video, a woman stands in front of her seniors and tells them about her frustration over remuneration. She also discusses the mistreatment she has been through while in the office. The employee also expressed her frustration with the lack of incentives and support. She refused to have a private conversation with her seniors regarding this matter.

3. The provident fund dues of an ex-employee were not cleared

One of the ex-employees of BYJU’S claimed that his dues were not cleared even after leaving the company. The employee, who worked as a product specialist at the ed-tech company, said,

I have been banging my head to all the HR requesting to make it fast because now it is becoming a major issue, all I get to hear is wait for 30 days.

Meanwhile, this is not the first instance of its kind. According to the Times of India’s report, there are many other ex-employees whose provident funds have not been cleared to date.

4. BYJU’S forced employees to resign and treated them like ‘robots’

An ex-employee of BYJU’S told NDTV how she was forced to resign and how she was fired over a Zoom call without any prior notice or official mail. Speaking about the incident, she said,

I never got a chance to ask why were they forcing me to resign. We were treated like robots. Byju Raveendran’s letter of apology was sent to current employees, but not the ones fired.

She claimed that once this incident came to light, BYJU’s Raveendran wrote an apology letter to the company’s present employees but not to the ones who had been sacked.

5. Employees opened up about the exploitative practices happening in the company

Pratik Makhija, a former salesperson at BYJU’S, told The Wire about the exploitative practices of BYJU’S. He said,

You feel like you’re in a bubble or trapped at the bottom of a well, with no way to climb out and enjoy the outside world.

He also claimed there is no work-life balance and added,

We are treated like slaves.

Makhija told the media that he was diagnosed with anxiety and had to take professional help because of the company’s toxic work culture.

6. Employees are asked to sign a pre-drafted resignation letter from the company

Many ex-staffers of BYJU’S opened up about how they were forced to resign online without any official mail or notice. There are numerous reports that claim that BYJU’S forced its employees to sign a pre-drafted resignation letter.

This was all done to make a mass layoff look like a voluntary resignation. The reports also state that employees who refused to resign by themselves were threatened with termination or no end-of-service benefits.

7. Employees in Kerala are given two options: Whether you resign or have the contract terminated

A group of employees at BYJU’S from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, opened up about how they were forced to resign immediately. They also added that there were more than 170 employees of BYJU’S who were forced to leave their jobs.

As the company claimed to discontinue its operation in Kerela, these employees reached out to a Welfare organization for help. The organization’s secretary said the workers were informed that their contracts would be terminated if they didn’t quit voluntarily. The concerned employees took this matter to the Kerela Government and asked for their help.