600 Customer Service Representatives are Let Go by Zomato

According to media sources, Zomato decided to fire 600 customer service representatives only a year after they were hired. The aforementioned action is part of the company's response to its growing reliance on automation to save expenses. This move also added more fire to the rumours of Zomato witnessing a decline in its primary food delivery service. Zomato has also been having trouble with its rapid commerce division, Blinkit, which has been losing more money. Under the Zomato Associate Accelerator Program (ZAAP), the company hired close to 1,500 customer service representatives. This move was aligned with the firm's aim of advancing these employees into a variety of positions in supply chains, operations, sales, and other departments within a year. Nevertheless, the contracts of a large number of these employees were not extended.

Terminated Without Giving a Valid Reason

A month's salary was being offered as compensation to the affected employees. They had, however, been let go without warning. According to a statement released by the media, one of the customer service representatives claimed that most of the workers hired under the ZAAP programme were let go without giving a reason. Employees also think that their jobs are no longer necessary because Zomato is using AI more and more to automate its customer service system. It should be noted that Zomato just introduced Nugget. It is an AI-powered customer service platform that currently manages millions of support requests for Blinkit, Hyperpure, and Zomato every month.

Zomato’s Second Layoff Within Short Span of Time

On 28 March, a former Zomato employee claims in a widely shared Reddit post that the firm unexpectedly and without warning fired over 300 employees. According to the former worker, who says he was one of those affected, the decision was made based on an "average lateness" of only 28 minutes over three months—and this after he had demonstrated good performance and a solid track record. The post claims that Zomato failed to notify the staff of this significant change or provide them with an opportunity to address or resolve their attendance problems. They were astonished when they were unceremoniously terminated instead.

The user blasted the corporation for treating employees like "disposable" and called this "a cold termination". Outrage over job security and business ethics in India's startup sector was sparked by the post, which soon gained popularity. Similar tales were recounted by numerous Reddit users, who questioned the justice of such sudden dismissals. One poster, who claimed to be a current Zomato employee, detailed how quickly the terminations occurred, including how Slack accounts were disabled, access was refused, and staff members were let go without being given a chance to explain themselves. A lawyer encouraged impacted employees to take action and not take this lying down while offering legal support. Employees are being encouraged by users to "fight for the compensation" they are entitled to. Another ex-Zomato employee claimed they were let go for an unclear cause and that they were not informed that differences in login times would be considered non-compliance.