Blinkit junks 'zero notice period' policy as talent hunt simmers in quick commerce

Albinder Dhindsa, CEO of Blinkit

Quick commerce leader Blinkit has made several of its staffers, especially those in the top deck, sign an addendum to their employment contracts that has increased their notice period from nil up to two months, people aware of the developments told Moneycontrol.

The move to scrap the zero notice period policy comes at a time when competitive intensity in the $5.5-billion rapid delivery space in India is only increasing by the day. Several companies like Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy are fighting it out to attract and retain top talent in a red-hot market where players enter a land-grab mode.

“Blinkit’s move is pre-emptive and also is a response to what is happening now. A well-funded competitor like Zepto, or a large rival like Flipkart, can make a handsome offer and easily poach talent from Blinkit. A lot of companies are doing that and Blinkit is taking measures to avoid losing talent,” one of the persons cited above told Moneycontrol.

Zomato, the company that runs and operates Blinkit, had introduced this policy only in July this year, as per media reports. In the three months since, Zepto, a rival in the space, has raised $340 million. Similarly, Walmart launched Flipkart Minutes in Bengaluru and scaled it to multiple cities in India. Even Swiggy has received approval for its initial public offering (IPO), one of the largest for a new-age company in recent years, all underscoring how intense the competition has become, likely justifying Blinkit’s move.

“In certain cases where Blinkit for sure knows an employee is going to a direct competitor, the employee is now sent on a garden leave for two months or is relieved immediately to avoid sensitive information being leaked out of Blinkit to others,” a second person in the know told Moneycontrol.

Blinkit did not respond to a request for comments.

Not just Blinkit

While Blinkit is the first major company to add an additional clause in employment contracts, especially only weeks after making the provision for it, poaching employees is not uncommon, especially in a sunrise sector like quick commerce.

Quick commerce companies like Swiggy are actively hiring employees from e-commerce giants like Flipkart and Amazon since the DNA is very similar.

“Amazon is a hunting ground for talent for ad campaigns and search, Flipkart is best known for warehouse and backend operations talent (and) Swiggy is the preferred organisation for product and design talent,” Anshul Lodha, managing partner at Page Executive India, a recruitment consulting firm, told Moneycontrol.

Quick commerce companies are proactively poaching top performers from rivals and, in certain cases, the firms are also creating roles to accommodate key executives. “Zepto has offered highly competitive salaries to (its) employees and also offered great annual/promotion increments… A high performer with a growth-stage quick commerce company (can) double (their) salary every year,” Lodha said while highlighting how far companies are willing to go in order to attract and retain talent.

(With inputs from Reshab Shaw)