Martin Dinesh Gomez, the chief human resource officer (CHRO) at quick commerce startup Zepto, has stepped down and will leave the company soon, people aware of the developments told Moneycontrol. Gomez joined Zepto less than a year ago after spending over 11 years at e-commerce major Amazon.
Apart from Amazon, Gomez has worked at Thomson Reuters, Microsoft, Accenture and other companies for over 20 years.
“Martin is currently serving his notice period and will leave Zepto in a few weeks. In the interim, Aadit Palicha (co-founder and CEO) is handling HR operations and is involved with the hiring and other related tasks,” one of the persons cited above told Moneycontrol.
While CEO Palicha is handling some of Gomez’s tasks, Zepto’s Chandan Mendiratta will head the other human resource (HR) functions. Mendiratta, who joined in January this year, was the company’s chief brand officer and has also been made the Chief Culture Officer, Moneycontrol has learnt.
Prior to joining Zepto, Mendiratta used to head brand marketing at Zomato, as per his LinkedIn.
Zepto did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
Gomez now joins a growing list of top executives who have left Zepto in recent months. In June, Manik Oberoi, former VP, Growth and Retention at Zepto also quit the firm. That was after Viral Jhaveri, ex chief business officer and chief growth officer left Zepto in June after a two-and-a-half year stint, Moneycontrol had reported earlier. Similarly, Ashish Shah, former Senior Vice President (SVP) of Finance left Zepto, as reported by Moneycontrol earlier.
ALSO READ: Zepto’s cash burn zooms to Rs 250 crore a month on rising capex, closes Rs 2,500 crore funding round
The developments come at a time when there are anonymous posts on social media about Zepto having an unhealthy work environment, especially about employees not having a work-life balance.
Palicha, without sharing specifics, had however dismissed all claims. “I have nothing against work-life balance. In fact, I recommend it to all our competitors :),” Palicha said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
CEOs taking up HR functions is not new. In an interview to Moneycontrol earlier, Deepinder Goyal, CEO and co-founder at Zomato, which competes with Zepto through Blinkit, said he actively recruits, too.
"I'm also the HR guy in the organisation and that takes most of the time. HR, top level, building the top layer, or even the bottom layer. So, I am always recruiting, mentoring people and coaching people," Goyal had said in the interview.
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