Snapdeal CEO Kunal Bahl assures employees of job safety in an email

Gurgaon based e-commerce firm Snapdeal's co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl on Sunday confirmed in an email that the investors of the company are driving the decision on the way forward, indicating that the founders had little control over immediate developments at the company.

Reaching out to the employees, founders Bahl and Rohit Bansal said that while the investors were driving the discussions, the top priority for the duo was the "well being of the entire team".

However, the letter did not clarify what the way forward could likely be.

Snapdeal is in talks with larger rival Flipkart for an acquisition.

Till now Snapdeal has officially denied that the company was in talks for a sale and has maintained that it is chasing profitability. Despite this claim, sources have confirmed to Moneycontrol about talks by leading investor Softbank to assuage the company, which had been losing market share against rivals.

Due to these developments and no official clarity from the company, the employees have been worried about their jobs

"We will do all that we can, and more, in working with our investors to ensure that there is no disruption in employment and that there are positive professional as well as financial outcomes for the team as the way forward becomes clear," the email said.

In order to boost employee confidence, the founders also said that the annual salary hike is on schedule and the employees will be receiving their revised salary and due promotions in two weeks time. The duo added that the increments will be more than what was offered last year.

"Given the incredible progress we have made around our profitability journey as a company, the overall increments this year are higher than those offered last year," they said.

Moneycontrol has reviewed a copy of the letter. The hike is also an indication that this could be a golden handshake by top management to existing employees, some of whose positions could be merged as a result of the merger.

Last month, Snapdeal went through a massive retrenchment exercise, which saw the company letting go half of its 4300 employees.

Post the conclusion of the restructuring exercise the founders conducted multiple town hall meetings to soothe anxious employees assuring them that the worst was over and that there would be no further layoffs.

The consolidation will also impact the top management as both companies will look to merge administrative positions, as in the case of the previous merger with Jabong which saw exits at the top.

Read more: Snapdeal employees worried about jobs, as merger looms with Flipkart