E-commerce poster boy Flipkart stares at mass exodus

Bangaluru: Something is not quite right at the country’s e-com rockstar, Flipkart, after it hit a $16 billion Walmart jackpot in May this year.

If sheer data is anything to go by, over 6,500 employees of Flipkart and its subsidiaries, including Myntra, Jabong, PhonePe and Ekart, are actively job hunting on the country’s top notch career site, Naukri.com. That means, more than 20 per cent of the company’s total employees -- over 30,000 -- are exploring career prospects outside Flipkart.

A research found that some 5,275 Flipkart employees, across all profiles and seniorities, have floated their CVs on the portal of which 2,031 are from the company’s hometown, Bangalore. If you take a close look at the profiles of these applications, some 188 are directors (deputy, senior, associate), earning above Rs 30 lakh plus per annum.

Some 700 employees of Myntra and 519 employees of Jabong, the fashion and lifestyle brands of Flipkart, too have posted their CVs on the job portal. These job seekers include 27 and 16 senior executives from Myntra and Jabong, respectively. It looks like almost 50 per cent of Jabong employees are on a career search. Some of these profiles include logistics, testing, business analysis, software development and data analysis.

Flipkart’s logistics venture, Ekart and its payment arm, PhonePe, are also not spared from huge attrition possibilities. Some 188 Ekart employees are looking out for a new job while 76 employees — half a dozen of them are senior profiles -- of PhonePe are also on a job hunt. PhonePe had said in March that it would double its people strength from 250.

Interestingly, some 80 per cent of these job applications have come on the portal in the last two to three months, observe recruiters. Also, the number of Flipkart employee profiles out in the job market could only go up if other job portals and career platforms are researched, say recruiters.

BS Murthy, a top tech hirer and CEO at Leadership Capital, said, “Looks like India’s e-com poster boy Flipkart is heading towards a serious attrition issue if employee concerns and career future issues are not addressed immediately. This will have serious impact on the growth plans of Flipkart-Walmart in India, of course to the delight of its archrival Amazon which potentially holds the finest talent in the e-com business today.’’

A senior Flipkart executive said on condition of anonymity, “Prior to the Walmart deal, there was a lot of hype about being part of a global giant, stock options and opportunities of working around the globe etc. Few employees are already seeing some positive things, but for the majority, it is uncertainty and lack of clarity, because there is no proper communication from Walmart yet.’’
Internal sources said a bunch of senior executives in Binny Bansal’s coterie may be asked to leave by CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy.

Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal’s sudden exit as group CEO of Flipkart has triggered speculations over the future of the Indian e-commerce sector.

With reference to the recent speculation that Flipkart may lay off 50 per cent of Jabong's workforce, the temp staffing firm TeamLease said this move is just an indication of any merger or acquisition happening in the company.