Byju’s staffers temporarily call off protest after ‘unplanned’ town hall

The virtual town hall, a 50-minute call starting around 11 am, had Mohit assure employees that the company will no longer delay variable pays, incentives and will ensure that there are no more layoffs, attendees of the call told ET.

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A Byju’s spokesperson told ET that the town hall was planned well in advance, to mark the completion of one year of the business unit. “We are not aware of any employee protests. Any rumours regarding the same are incorrect,” the person said in a statement.

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A group of employees – led by area business heads at Byju’s Tuition Centre – had on Friday planned for a protest on July 25 to resolve issues of non-payment. Variable pay had not been credited to employees since the last three quarters and incentives had not been paid since the last one year, ET learnt from the employees.

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“Since they said layoffs will stop, we will wait and watch. In case, a single employee is also laid off, protests will follow instantly without any ultimatum,” one the employees told ET.Also read | Consortium of Byju’s lenders extends pact to deal with edtech jointly: report

A video had been making rounds on social media on Friday, where an employee of Byju’s, identifying themself as Payal, was seen questioning Soham Sanidhya, vice president of sales, on pending incentives, while also pointing out to repeated requests of failed communication channels internally to relay the same concerns previously.

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“This town hall wasn’t planned, it happened to stop the protests on July 25,” said Zia Ur Rehman, an area business head at a Byju’s Tuition Centre, who was terminated on July 21 with immediate effect.

An organiser of the planned protest, Rehman told ET he plans to send a legal notice to Byju’s against his termination, which coincidentally fell on the same day as protests were planned.

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Byju’s runs over 300 tuition centres across 143 towns. The Bengaluru-based company — India’s largest edtech as well as the most valued startup — has been embroiled in multiple issues from corporate governance and financials to legal tussle surrounding a $1.2-billion loan and incessant firings across the organisation to save capital.

ET had reported on Tuesday that the directors of Byju’s parent company, Think and Learn, may be summoned by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) in connection with a probe into alleged corporate governance lapses.