Withdrawn job offers have become sadly commonplace in Indian startups. Flipkart had sent shockwaves among top institutes after it had delayed the joining dates of students from IITs and IIMs. Several other companies, including Inmobi and Roadrunnr had followed suit. But Grofers seems to have gone the extra mile in cancelling the job offer it made to to student – and it has done it in what is possibly the worst imaginable way.
BITS Goa graduate Rohan Coelho claims that he was told that Grofers was taking back its job offer after he’d already moved cities for the job and was checked into a hotel provided by the company. He was scheduled to start work 2 days later.
What makes this worse for Coelho is that he’d been offered a job as an Operations Manager by Grofers in August 2015 through the placement cell in his college. He’s posted a happy status about it then, congratulating the Placement Cell students for lining up “such great companies”. He says that the company had been in regular contact with him since then, having sent 7 emails confirming his joining over the last two months.
And Coelho doesn’t seem to be alone. According to sources, a total of 8 students from BITS Goa have seen their job offers being cancelled by the company.
Grofers had had a tough 2016, having shut down operations in 9 cities in March. Rival Peppertap had had shut its entire operations in May.
The ordeal that these students had to go through does sound harrowing. To have a job offer for 10 months and to lose it the day before you’re supposed to join is decidedly unfair. But this might be the new normal for Indian startups – job offers are being callously rescinded when funding conditions are unfavourable. The funding freeze has hit most decidedly Indian startups now, and fresh students are bearing the brunt.
Update: This seems to be a part of a larger round of firings at Grofers. Sources say that the company is effecting a 10% layoff across departments and has decided to not take the campus hires.