Zomato laid off 541 Employees due to Automation and AI

On Saturday, the online food delivery platform in the country said that it would lay off 541 employees. By the looks of it, the 541 employees represent 10 per cent of the complete strength of the company. Zomato laid off the employees from delivery partner, merchant and customer support teams.

According to sources, Zomato currently incorporates a robust and cutting-edge AI bot as well as Automation which will resolve the queries of customers immediately. The leading food delivery service in the country would lead to a complete reduction of direct support queries. Zomato took it to the press to provide an insight as to why the company has let go of more than 500 employees.

Through an official statement, Zomato said that the decision is quite painful for the company. However, the company wants to make the transition extremely smooth. In addition to this, the company food delivery service company also extends the severance pay for two months. The health insurance cover for the family of the employees is valid until 31st of January 2020. Any other additional benefits such as career fair opportunities with the company will either end in a couple of months or by January 2020.

Zomato is going to war with NRAI

Currently, Zomato is in complete disarray with the NRAI, National Restaurant Association of India concerning the deep discounts. Moreover, the bickering is about the excessive discount which the food delivery service gives to the Gold dining programmes. As of now, Zomato claims that it is improving the speed of the resolution service. Currently, Zomato is giving 7.5 per cent off on a single order compared to the 15 per cent which took place back in March.

The company also said that in the past few months, Zomato saw that their technology platforms and products evolved as well as improve significantly. Moreover, this has led to a complete reduction concerning the direct order concerning support queries.

On the other hand, the company did also say that it will hire more than 1,200 people around different vertical. By the looks of it, this excludes the last-mile delivery fleet of the company. In addition to this, the company also said that there are around 400 more off-roles professions. As of now, the company is hiring in terms of product, technology as well as teams in the data science division.

What are the plans of Zomato?

Currently, Zomato is planning to introduce the Gold programme across multiple cities through its popular delivery platform. On the 30th of August, NRAI said that there is a principle agreement in between the two significant food delivery platforms, Swiggy and Zomato. The problem that currently persists in the food delivery industry incorporates deep discounts. But the real question is whether Zomato will take the deal to come up with a similar discount percentage that way Swiggy is doing.

Nevertheless, Zomato is very stoic when it comes to carrying out the plans that it previously thought of doing. There is a highly likely chance that Zomato will carry out its basic principle and make the Gold programme available across the nation.