Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal plays down attrition problem

Reacting to increased discussions about recent top-level exits Zomato, its chief executive Deepinder Goyal took to social media to say that more than 50% of the top 50 people have been with the firm for over seven years and that “many of these folks are on their second (and third) stint”.

“There’s been a lot of chatter about the culture at Zomato after a series of exits over the last few months. Well, here’s a fact — there are more than 200 people at Zomato who have spent more than seven years at the company,” he tweeted in a post headlined, ‘attrition problem at Zomato!!!’

“We are proud of the high performance, culture-driven organisation that we are creating, and will continue to look for high quality talent which wants to commit to a growth mindset, and extra- terrestrial performance,” he added.

Goyal’s post on Twitter and LinkedIn comes days after Zomato declared its December-quarter earnings. He commented on the recent exits in a shareholder letter for December quarter earnings.

“Company building is not just about the journey of the business. It is also so much about its people’s personal journeys. Both these journeys take their own twists and turns. And sometimes, for some people, the distance between their form (their mindset and skillset) and the company’s context becomes such that it is necessary to take a break from each other”, Goyal said.

The senior-level exits at Zomato include that of cofounders Mohit Gupta and Gunjan Patidar, who was also the chief technology officer. Head of new initiatives Rahul Ganjoo and Siddharth Jhawar, who was heading intercity delivery, had quit the firm late last year.

Later, during the analysts call, Goyal had said that Zomato CFO Akshant Goyal and himself had taken over some of the responsibilities of those who had exited, with the remaining assignments being handed over to other team members.

“I’m doing a bunch of things, Akshant ( Goyal) has taken up a couple of things…we also have a strong bench. So, with a combination of these three, we’re good for now. So far, we can fit it into the 12-14 hours a day…it’s perfectly fine but we’re constantly on a lookout for talent,” Goyal said in a post-earnings analyst call on Friday.

“…we don’t have the need to fill these two spots (of Gupta and Patidar). Being in ‘continuous lookout for great talent’ is an attack tactic, not a defence tactic,” Goyal had said on whether the company was looking to fill these vacancies by hiring anyone from outside.

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