“Conditions within Zomato have been horrific right from the start” reveals an employee

Zomato, the online restaurant listing and discovery platform has been in the news for a variety of reasons- be it for being valued as a unicorn company worth $1 billion, their mass firing, CEO Deepinder Goyal’s email to all employees and the fact that the company might be unable to meet its revenue target for the first time in five years.

Signs of turbulence however started a fortnight ago, when the company fired 10% (approximately 250-300 employees) of its workforce as a part of a ‘global restructuring.’

As expected, claims were made that the employees fired were never given constructive feedback or any inkling that they were under-performing.

The company vehemently denied these claims with the CEO Deepinder Goyal sending out a warning disguised in an email to the sales team and later forwarding it to all the employees rubbishing these claims, along with a few others.

In the mail, Goyal explicitly states that there is always another side to a story, as in the case of Zomato’s mass-firing. He adds, that there is no truth behind the allegation that the employees who were asked to let go never got any feedback.

“The fact is that a lot of people don’t take feedback seriously, and they keep under-performing consistently.”

Goyal also pinpoints the sales team’s (which has quadrupled since 2013) underperformance in the mail and claims that they have not been ‘firing on all cylinders.”

The result of that inefficiency is according to him, Zomato’s dismal revenue growth.

Not only has the number of meetings that the team should be having daily lessened, but also the closures that the company gets per person has become significantly smaller, he adds in the mail.

Goyal attributes both problems to the lack of motivation and training in the sales team.

However, what was meant to be an email that aimed at bringing about some much needed motivation in the sales team and in general was infact viewed as a mail that was draconian, indulged in a blame-game and one which highlighted Goyal’s apathy.

A Zomato employee (name withheld by request) took us through the state of affairs at the company in his own words-

“Our necks continue being on the line”

Even after the company fired 10% of its workforce, no employee’s job is still safe.

Our necks continue to be on the line. On Friday, more of my colleagues were laid off. These include, the Head of the Cashless Business, who was promised an alternative stint in the company, the Head of the White Labeled App Business (who had 12+ years of consulting experience) among countless others. Do they look like people who couldn’t perform to you? I don't think so.

In light of these events, how can one really feel secure about their job and perform to the fullest?

“Conditions within Zomato have been horrific right from the start”

While it’s a given that every employee at Zomato loves the product, but that still doesn’t take away the fact that conditions within the company have been horrific right from the start. There exists a closed group of people who have christened themselves as the ‘Crew’ and who continue to terrorize and harass people. Much before things started to climb down revenue-wise, Zomato had a ‘hire and fire policy’. That’s not all. If you ask other employees, they will tell you what I’m telling you- the company never believed in role clarity, expectation management or constructive feedback. (Quite contrary to what was written in that long email meant to ‘inspire’)

“It all talks about Zomato’s character at a very basic level”

For the company, people (save for the handful of few in the crew) have always been treated as a dispensable resource - particularly at the senior and middle management level. This is because these people have a 'voice of reason' which Deepinder Goyal and his band of blood-thirsty Rottweilers are unable to tolerate.

Please don't take my word for it - everyone knows how many CMOs have left the company.

If you think that's the worst part, you're wrong. Sample this- while every single one of them has been gracious and dignified in their exit - the company continues to paint them like demons. It all talks about character at a very basic level.

“There is little or zero motivation. And, that is because…”

In his email, Deepinder Goyal stated that that there is little or zero motivation and he is absolutely correct. But, what he doesn’t say is the reason behind such a situation.

Let me explain.

Recently, a colleague was fired on the pretext of ‘you cannot sell.’

This would’ve been understandable had the person in question was employed in a sales role or had a sales background. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. He was told categorically in his closed room discussion with Deepinder that unless he agrees to move to the sales side, he will be fired. He resisted, and he was thrown out quite unceremoniously.

Every company comes to a stage when they have to fire people. Again, that’s understandable. But, the least you can do is have the grace to tell them that they are being let go for reasons of restructuring, Most people are being fired on the pretext of being bad at their work, which is frankly unfair. I have seen multiple colleagues even being fired on the grounds of being a bad ‘culture fit.’

How difficult is it to tell people that they are not needed anymore rather than making them feel small or inconsequential?

These are just a handful of the hundred stories that do the rounds of the company corridors every single day and keeping these in mind, you tell me how are we supposed to feel motivated?

“Deepinder is brilliant, but…”

Recently we had a virtual TownHall meetup with Deepinder. He, who claims to be so accessible, shot down most questions that challenged his beliefs and made a public spectacle of himself.

Questions regarding 'poor motivation levels' and 'low salaries' were shot down, and people obviously stopped short of asking these questions.
It’ll be wrong to not admit that he is brilliant, no doubt, but his emotional intelligence on the other hand, hovers at a sub-zero level.

Granted, he has built a great company from ground up but what he lacks is empathy, and that is going to be his undoing.

You can't build a company without people. People maketh the company. And if people are treated so poorly, then people will leave and never endorse your company, brand or product.

It’s high time he understands that.

(Repeated attempts were made to get in touch with the top management at Zomato, but our queries were not entertained)