Is Zee Entertainment laying off employees?

Zee Entertainment (ZEEL) has allegedly downsized as many as 50-60 employees across its India offices. This number is expected to touch 100 within the coming weeks. Sources close to the development told Campaign India that the sales teams in Mumbai and Delhi might be the worst hit in this round of layoffs.

 

Several senior employees – executive cluster heads, all-India heads, vice presidents, and zonal heads, to name a few, mainly from the sales departments – have allegedly been asked to leave within as little as two to three weeks’ time. Even junior and mid-level employees within the teams are said to have been negatively impacted.

 

However, a ZEEL company spokesperson attributes the changes in the organisation to its new strategic direction, via an official statement.

 

“ZEE is an academy of talent and has always valued human capital as its most precious asset. Following from our ZEE 4.0 strategy (announced in October 2020), we are in the process of realigning our teams, acquiring new talent and driving numerous capability-building initiatives to better align our talent with the new, emerging strategic priorities of the Company. As part of this process and combined with the year-end exercise outcomes, a certain level of attrition is natural. ZEE has also been going very steady with its recruitment approach and has been onboarding talent from across sectors, in order to further strengthen the organisation.”

 

Sources revealed to Campaign India that ZEEL has promised to compensate exiting employees only for the unfulfilled notice period. However, while multiple sources claim there are no clear severance packages allotted to axed staff.

 

A source, who is also one of the employees asked to leave, told Campaign India on the condition of anonymity, “The company carried out appraisals in March 2021 as usual, promising promotions and salary hikes that were due to us. However, instead of the appraisals coming into play, some of us were fired without any explanation or feedback.” Allegedly, some employees, severely discontent with the lack of severance packages, are also considering taking the legal route against the organisation.

 

In a major management restructuring move in October 2020, Rahul Johri, the then president of the BCCI, was brought in as president of ZEEL’s South Asia business. He was handed the revenue and content monetisation mandate.