Paytm: Paytm employees cry foul over job cuts and unfair treatment

Mumbai: “I started crying during the meeting. I told them that I am ready to work even with a lower salary and title,” said a Paytm employee who is facing imminent job termination. Executives from the human resources department contacted him in a call late last month, saying his role would be eliminated as part of an organizational restructuring and asking him to submit his resignation by early June. Facing an uncertain future following RBI’s decision to wind down Paytm Payments Bank and the wallet business, many employees are being asked to “voluntarily resign” without notice, several have been denied severance packages and many are invited to reimburse their membership and retention bonuses. to the company, several former and current Paytm employees told TOI. The fintech did not provide any formal communications describing the restructuring process and resulting job losses to affected employees and warned them against recording HR meetings. “Calls with HR are referred to as “connection” or “chat.” There is no formal documentation of any kind,” claimed one employee. A review of a few offer letters from Paytm showed that the amount of joining and retention bonuses will be “recoverable” by the company if they “quit their employment” before 18 months. to assume the role. In some cases, the same clause also applies in the event of dismissal “for any reason”. For those whose offer letters do not include the termination clause, Paytm’s justification is that it is mentioned in their appointment letters which were provided after they joined. Employees said many of them did not receive any appointment letters, either by mail or snail mail, and those who did were never asked to sign the papers and to acknowledge receipt. Some of the employees TOI spoke to alleged that their offer letters did not mention reimbursement of bonuses in case of termination. Paytm has refuted the allegations. “We strongly deny allegations of any forced action against employees or unfair treatment. We have rigorously ensured that our HR teams inform employees of their dismissal only through official channels. Additionally, we would also like to emphasize that all transitions are duly undertaken as per the standards set out in the appointment letter of these employees. To help them adapt and plan their next move, we respect these employees’ full notice periods while providing additional support such as outplacement and processing bonuses due upon full and final settlement. . Our goal remains to build a leaner organization, well-positioned to deliver long-term sustainable growth and value to our stakeholders. We remain committed to supporting our employees during this transition,” a company spokesperson said in response to TOI’s queries. A former employee whose services were recently terminated by the company because he refused to resign said Paytm did not provide an experience letter. If employees have voluntarily resigned in recent months, fearing the repercussions of a dismissal notice, some employees are waging a silent battle: they have refused to resign, have expressed their concerns to the internal team of escalation by Paytm employees and are seeking a “fair solution”. exit process”. Affected employees also formed a group on social media to deliberate and decide on the next course of action. Some of them are consulting lawyers and at least one employee has already filed a complaint with the Ministry of Labor. If an employee files a complaint with Paytm’s employee grievance team, the company is supposed to investigate the matter and submit a report to the employee. An affected employee of the lending team is still awaiting a report on the complaint filed. “Just two months ago, (founder) Vijay Shekhar Sharma had said in a town hall that no member of the loan team would be laid off. I thought my job was safe,” the person said. Some employees said layoffs had occurred since October. “I was abruptly fired on January 5th. My finances were strained and I had to take a loan to repay my bonus of Rs. 2 lakh,” claimed former staffer Prakher Srivastava.