Byju’s lays out new social media policy for employees amid layoffs

Of late, the company has also steered away from written communication, informing employees about their termination on video and audio calls as emails tend to get leaked.

Byju's rolled out a new social media policy prohibiting employees from communicating with the media, a development followed by the company's decision to restructure businesses and let go off 4,000-5000 employees.

According to a new document shared in a company-wide communication on September 26, effective immediately, employees who fail to adhere to the guidelines could face disciplinary or legal action.

“...You are not allowed to speak directly with any media house or provide Company’s information including pictures, videos, screenshots, etc. Any violation of this will be taken up by the Company seriously and may result in appropriate disciplinary and legal action initiated against you,” said the document titled Social Media Policy Version 1.0, a copy of which has been reviewed by Moneycontrol.

While the company earlier used to provide a similar document to the new hires highlighting its code of conduct, sources said creating a separate social media policy and communicating the same company-wide was an attempt at damage control as current and former staff voiced their growing discontent against the edtech major across media platforms.

"As you are aware, Byju's is working with industry experts to review its business process. As part of this exercise, we are reviewing various policies to reflect industry best practices. We have updated our existing social media policy and communicated the same internally to our employees. This policy is no different and encourages responsible usage of social media for communication," said a company spokesperson in response to Moneycontrol's queries.

To be sure, nearly every company has a social media policy with guidelines on the tone that employees need to have on public platforms. Sources further said the timing of dissemination might be a coincidence - the fact that this went out the same day when the company announced a massive round of restructuring that would impact 4,000-5,000 employees.

Of late, the company has also steered away from written communication, informing employees about their termination on video and audio calls as emails tend to get leaked.

Also read: Byju’s to rebrand WhiteHat Jr as Byju's Future School, fully merge operations with itself

Byju’s, in the document, also said that it will “actively monitor” employees’ interactions, external communications, all social media postings and publications, which are related to the company.

Since 2022, the edtech major has come under fire for laying off at least 5,000 employees. It has also delayed appraisals, provident fund payments, and withheld performance-linked pay from employees.

Also Read: Byju's employee shares tearful video: 'Was told to resign or else my salary…’

Byju’s recently onboarded Infosys veteran Richard Lobo to lead the HR function who assumed his role at the company in the beginning of August.

The policy also mentioned that employees associated with Byju’s will have to adhere to the rules while interacting with “any media houses, publications or when using, participating or communicating or through any platforms including but not limited to Twitter (a.k.a. X), LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Telegram, WhatsApp, Quora, blogs, wikis, chat forums, networking forums or any other such tool or service, that facilitates communications or interactions in any form or manner.”

Also read: ‘I’m screaming because…’: Byju’s employee’s meltdown over incentives. Viral video

Apart from multiple rounds of layoffs, Byju’s has also sought to boost efficiency and pare costs by giving up its biggest office space in Bengaluru recently.

The urgency for the company to conserve cash comes at a time when it is looking to tide over an imminent liquidity crunch amid lender commitments.

Earlier this month, Byju's sent a proposal to its lenders to repay its entire disputed $1.2 billion term loan B within the next six months, with an upfront payment of $300 million in the next three months. The company is looking to restructure subsidiaries while planning to sell two key assets--Great Learning and US-based Epic to fund its repayment plans.

Separately, it has also been looking to raise a fresh equity funding round. To be sure, Byju's, one of the world's largest edtech firms, last valued at about $22 billion, has been looking to raise funds since the start of the year. However, the company has not managed to close the round amid ongoing challenges on various domestic and international fronts.

In May, it raised $250 million in structured instruments from Davidson Kempner, but the US-based AMC held back close to $150 million as the company’s talks with its lenders did not progress well.

Byju's also had a technical default on the Davidson Kempner loan. This prompted Byju Raveendran to raise funds to repay it, in order to avoid losing control of his most valuable asset, Aakash Educational Services. Byju's had offered Aakash's shares as collateral for the Davidson Kempner loan.

Byju’s is also exploring fundraising from one of its earliest backers, Ranjan Pai, for Aakash Educational Services. Pai is expected to buy out a part of Raveendran’s stake in Aakash, Moneycontrol reported last month. Raveendran holds close to 30 percent stake in Aakash.