Coronavirus outbreak: These companies are hiring robustly amid lockdown

EVER since the economy went into an almost total shutdown thanks to the Coronavirusinduced lockdown companies across the country and well the world have been announcing layoffs and salary cuts in a bid to keep afloat As per reports the NaukriJobSpeak Index for May 2020 marked a 61 per cent decline in hiring activity as compared to May 2019 It marked the second consecutive month where the hiring activity registered a dip of more than 60 per centThats the bad newsThe good news is that some industries have in fact remained steady if not seen a growth during this period and are hiring rather robustly A post on LinkedIn by one of its editors lists companies such as Amazon Dunzo insurers and Grofers and Big Basket among edtech firms such as Whitehat Jr Unacademy Simplilearn and Vedantu who are planning to or have already hired across positions during the lockdown and will continue to do so through the yearKaran BajajKaran Bajaj founder and CEO at Whitehat Jr a Mumbaibased edtech startup that focuses on teaching coding to young kids says his 18monthold company had been doing well before the lockdown was announced We were growing at 60 per cent per month in India and 100 per cent per month in the US During the lockdown that jumped to 100 per cent in India and 150 per cent in the US he adds While the company has been on a growth trajectory he attributes the surge to the fact that education technology is in demand now and with their teachers and students operating on cloud this is a proposition that fits And so with an employee strength of 300 before the lockdown they have now increased to 800 to 900 people and are looking at hiring around 2000 employees and another 2000 freelance teachers to teach on the platform They dont have to have a teaching background Just be warm engaging and interesting with a strong background in the logic field ie maths science and like to spend time with kids The money isnt bad either Bajaj says by the third month a freelance teacher can earn anywhere between R6 lakh to R25 lakh annually depending on time spent on the platformA Whitehat Jr teacher and student during a session The 18monthold firm which had 300 employees prelockdown has now grown to 800900 employeesIts not just edtech platforms that have seen a growth but sporting firms such as Dream Sports are also looking at increasing their staff strength We are looking at roles mainly in tech domain such as software development data science and also in design product finance legal HR and marketing says Kevin Freitas CHRO Dream Sports Freitas says that while most of the 250 people that the firm plans to hire will be for their brand Dream11 some will also be for their other brands like FanCode and DreamX Founded in 2008 by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth Dream Sports is a Sports Technology company focused on making sports better by providing multiple avenues for fans to deeply engage with the sports they love through fantasy sports live streaming specialised content commerce experiences and events among othersKevin FreitasWhile the firm that already hired in 75 positions during the lockdown and a batch of freshers from IIT will be joining in July the other positions they are looking at are experienced hires These are unprecedented times and sports fans are unable to get any live sporting action Through Dream11 and FanCode while we offer sports such as cricket football basketball kabaddi etc we have recently added handball and baseball for Indian fans during the lockdown and a bunch of longtail sporting eventsOn being asked whether now would be a good time to expand considering other firms and industries are being conservative Freitas says We are a data focused company and have observed our consumption patterns in the past Sports is coming back and demand is going to peak And we want to be ready to meet this demandAlbinder Dhindsa CEO and cofounder Grofers says over the last two months the egrocery platform has hired over 3000 people for their supply chain operations and plans to hire another 2000 warehouse and delivery staff in the coming months Grofers is an Indian online grocery delivery service founded in December 2013 based out of Gurugram and allows customers to order supermarket supplies via their site and app across locationsAmin RozaniWe saw an unprecedented surge in demand during the lockdown which we expect to stabilise at 30 per cent higher than preCOVID levels There has also been a 40 per cent increase in basket size now as compared to the preCOVID era To meet this surge we ramped up our supply chain hired more staff and have been ensuring the availability of sufficient stocks from our brand partnersOn how consumer behaviour has changed leading to this growth he adds We expect to see a lot more consumers shift to online shopping for home delivery of groceries as social distancing is going to remain a norm We are seeing 64 per cent firsttime online grocery shoppers and 15 per cent first time online shoppersNot just are some companies hiring new people but they are also seeing increments as per standard Spartan Poker an online gaming platform that was started in 2015 had a team of 80 prelockdown Since March 24 they have hired two people and hope to hire another 15 soon Talking of their expansion during the last few months founder and managing director Amin Rozani says Digital platforms and online gaming have seen a spurt in terms of volume And so we are evolving and upscaling skilled resources in customer service and marketing While we havent on purpose hired those who have lost their jobs in the lockdown this has happened organicallyWe are also creating pokerlike platforms for games such as rummy and are looking for people who can help us initiate these projectsHe adds that 50 per cent of these resources have been hired from outside Mumbai The good part of being a digital platform is that it gives us the flexibility to hire from any city or state and even from outside the country though we havent exercised that option yetMohit GundechaIn fact it is this flexibility of being able to work from anywhere that is going to define the hiring process over the next few years says Mohit Gundecha cofounder and CEO of the Punebased Jombay a virtual assessment centre and digital learning companyIn the last 100 days threefour prominent trends have emerged Multiple companies are announcing a movement towards workfromanywhere and this will change the world significantly Second the brick and mortar world of retailing is transforming People are not going to try a shirt someone else has tried before And third the wine and dine style of selling and relationship management will change Human behaviour and personal and professional aspirations are transforming People are reconsidering their spending habits how much time do I spend with family do I need so many domestic helps and drivers And so the digital adoption that companies had planned to do in five years they will have to do in six months And companies that are strong digitallyenabled will do wellIn our case for instance there has been an increase in demands for virtual assessment centres as opposed to people meeting candidates in person Even those who prefer inperson meetings have now been forced to do virtual assessments Education retail corporate training assessment software providers for sales management and enablement will be required as the customer may no longer walk into a shop for some time And those who can enable technology across all functions such as HR marketing and sales will be needed The next trend will be selling from anywhere If you no longer have to be present to sell companies will no longer need to hire someone for 100000 in the US when they will be able to hire someone here at 30000 Such areas will also see a growthTrends emerging in lockdownMovement towards workfromanywhereThe brick and mortar world of retailing is transformingThe wine and dine style of selling and relationship management is changingHuman behaviour personal and professional aspirations are transformingPeople are reconsidering their spending habitsMohit Gundecha Cofounder and CEO JombayCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news