Indonesia’s Zenius lays off 200+ employees

Jofie Yordan co-reported this story.

Zenius, the Indonesian edtech startup, is laying off over 200 employees as it deals with the global economic downturn. That amounts to over 20% of its 900+ workforce.

“Currently, the industry is facing some of the worst macroeconomic conditions in decades,” says a Zenius spokesperson in a statement provided to Tech in Asia. To ensure sustainability, the company is consolidating business processes, which has led to the layoffs.

Photo credit: Zenius

Two soon-to-be former employees who asked to remain anonymous say that the layoffs were announced in a company-wide townhall yesterday. Afterward, affected employees received calendar invitations to a 30-minute meeting with their line manager and the human resources team, which would take place within the next two days.

The sources add that the 600-strong content team, which includes tutors and illustrators, was particularly affected.

Those laid off will be eligible for severance pay as set out by Indonesian law, the Zenius spokesperson says. The firm will also continue the health insurance benefits and wellness counseling for affected staff until September 30, 2022.

The company is also helping these employees find new opportunities. One staff member says that Zenius may also help them find tutoring positions in Primagama, the offline tutoring giant Zenius acquired last February.

That employee says that the layoffs took her by surprise. “There were no signs at all – everything had been going on as usual.”

Another source says, however, that there were indeed signs, at least for tutors. These employees typically started out on a contract basis before automatically converting into full-time employees after a set period of time (generally one year).

However, Zenius announced a new performance review process for tutors last February, which would have determined whether these tutors’ contracts were renewed. The source says that ultimately, some did not convert to full-time status, but rather continued on a contract basis.

Zenius has raised a total of US$40 million in disclosed funding over four rounds. The company’s most recent round, led by MDI Ventures, was closed last March.

See also: Indonesia’s top edtech apps aren’t the usual suspects

These layoffs come after Indonesia’s edtech startups experienced a boom during the pandemic as students stayed home. India is also seeing a similar contraction among its edtech startups, with Unacademy and Vedantu laying off 1,600 employees combined.