Byju lays off 1,100 employees at Toppr

In the past, Edtech major Byju said less than 500 people had been laid off at Whitehat Jr and Toppr, but sacked employees claimed 1,100 staff had been retrenched at Toppr alone.

The layoff at Toppr comes alongside Byju's group firm Whitehat Jr retrenching 300 employees, as well as the resignation of 250 employees from the company in April-May.

We are optimising our teams across our group companies in order to speed up our business priorities and accelerate our long-term growth. Byju's spokeswoman said that the entire exercise involved less than 500 employees from all Byju's group companies.

Toppr's sacked employees were asked to resign, failing which they will be terminated without any notice period, because they got a call from the company on Monday.

I am a subject matter expert in chemistry. My entire team has been laid off. Toppr has promised 1 month's salary for those who resign and no salary for those who don't. Around 1,100 people were laid off at Toppr, a Toppr employee who did not wish to be named, told PTI.

A query by Toppr co-founder Zeeshan Hayath on his WhatsApp did not elicit any response.

Whitehat Jr said when contacted, the decision was taken to realign business priorities with a focus on long-term growth.

As part of our back-to-work drive, most of our sales and support employees have been asked to report to Gurgaon and Mumbai offices from April 18. We have made exceptions for medical and personal needs and offered relocation assistance as required.

Whitehat Jr said that we continue to invest in developing relevant curriculum for students and build a strong teacher community with high recruitment and training standards.

In July of last year, Byju acquired Toppr for about 150 million dollars.

Another employee who was laid off by Toppr said earlier this year, everyone was assured by top management, including Hayath, that there is a high growth opportunity for the employees in the company.

We have been getting some indications of low business after offline classes resumed across the country. I have also worked at Whitehat Jr. The employee said that online education is unable to match offline class.

The thousand people laid off by the Edtech firms Unacademy, Vedantu, Lido, Frontrow, Lido, etc. have been laid off this year.