Edtech startup Byju's laid off around 1,000 people last week. The news of the layoffs, however, was not announced openly. Unlike other companies, Byju's asked its employees to resign voluntarily and the employees, as per several reports, had no prior knowledge of the decision. Abruptly, hundreds of Byju's employees got to know last Friday (June 16) that it was their last working day. In addition to this, the impacted employees' email addresses were discontinued and official identity cards were confiscated.

And now, a fresh report states that the remaining employees' morale has taken a huge hit amidst the layoffs and employees want to leave the organisation in fear of getting fired overnight. "Morale is at an all-time low. Literally every person has a job portal open on their laptop at all times. Everyone wants to leave desperately before they are asked to pack up overnight," a senior manager at Byju's said, requesting to be anonymous. The manager further added that the situation right now is that managers and their subordinates are sitting together, looking for new jobs. 

"Right now the situation is so dismal, subordinates are sitting with their managers and job hunting," the Byju's employee said.

On Thursday, Byju's auditor Deloitte and three prominent board members announced their decision to no longer being associated with the ed-tech firm. Talking about the same, several employees told Reuters that they never received any communication about the exit of Deloitte and the board members. 

The manager added that things have been 'eerily quiet' at Byju's and that employees' concerns were growing due to lack of communication from leadership. 

About Byju's layoffs

Earlier this month, an ET report had revealed that Byju's was planning to layoff around 1,000 employees in order to cut costs. However, a more recent Moneycontrol report said that when worried employees had approached HR earlier after reading reports of Byju's planning layoffs, they were told that nothing of the sort had been planned. 

"Employees were told on Friday (June 16) that it would be their last working day. There was no prior communication. Following some reports in the media, employees were constantly asking the HR and their managers if there would be any layoffs but we heard there wouldn't be any," a source told Moneycontrol.

''After almost every development, employees get a mail from Byju Raveendran, where he says there won't be any more layoffs, the company is doing great, etc. But since October, there have been at least two major rounds of layoffs, this included'' the source added.

The laid-off employees will get two months' salary as severance and their full and final settlement should reach them by September-October, or about 45 days after July. After this, no extra severance will be given by the company.