Recent downsizings by Twitter, Meta, BYJU’S, Unacademy and BYJU’S have been reported by Unacademy, Twitter, BYJU’S, and Twitter. How can brands communicate this to stakeholders sensitively?
11,000 from Meta; 3,700 from Twitter; 2,500 from BYJU’S; 350 from Unacademy. These numbers represent the number of employees who were made unemployed by these companies in the past week.
It is clear that the season of layoffs is upon us. There is no way for any organization to tell employees that they are being fired. The obvious reasons to fire employees are to cut costs and avoid duplication. Employees don’t like the way Indian and international companies handle these situations.
BYJU’S – The Learning App was one of India’s most renowned ed-tech firms. In October, it laid off approximately 5% (2500 employees).
CEO Byju Raveendran, in an internal letter to the employees, said, “I realise that there is a huge price to pay for walking on this path to profitability. I am truly sorry to those who will have to leave BYJU’S, it breaks my heart too…”
Raveendran added, “Some business decisions have to be taken to protect the health of the larger organisation and pay heed to the constraints imposed by external macroeconomic conditions. What others see as ‘layoff’, I only see as ‘time off’. Bringing you back by putting our company on a sustainable growth path, will now be the number one priority for me.”
While talking about profitability is a good thing, laying off employees who have put their heart and soul into the work they do may not be the best decision. However, it’s not a ‘layoff’ but merely ‘time off’ that raises concern.
BYJU’S named Lionel Messi the first global brand ambassador for its social impact arm, “Education For All” just days after it had fired its employees. BYJU must have spent a lot to get the chance to be associated with such a global football icon. Experts in communication see this as a PR mistake, with poor timing.
“You don’t hire a brand ambassador, right after firing tons of people,” remarks Tarunjeet Rattan, managing partner, Nucleus PR. She says that such organisations erode the trust of people, who are working with them, have worked with them in the past, and also the ones who could possibly work with them in future. “The brand’s trust bank has been eroded drastically because of this announcement,” Rattan adds.
Archana Jain (Managing Director, PR Pundit) discusses how communication professionals and PR professionals should handle extremely sensitive situations like layoffs. She says that any change that affects a stakeholder in an organisation must be handled sensitively.
“Reputation is never impacted as much by this as it is by the absence of strategically considered and timely communication. During a crisis, a company’s credibility is rated based on the degree of openness and honesty, the fairness of its actions, and the empathy displayed,” Jain states.
Indian startups that have laid off employees recently include Vedantu and Blinkit to name a few.
Communicate India founder and CEO Akshaara Lalwani points out that the current business environment is fraught with challenges. It is more important than ever that communication professionals and PR experts are available to convey the right message.
As per Lalwani, “Layoffs have largely impacted organisations and brand equity of companies. However, this is where communication plays an important role. It matters what you say and how you say it. Additionally, it is imperative to have the right PR measures in place, when dealing with tough situations.”
