Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal issues a warning as 500 Swiggy employees becomd crorepatis after…

The inflow of wealth empowered employees.

New Delhi: The recent Rs 11,300 crore initial public offering (IPO) by online food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy marks a watershed moment. The monetary gains are already visible as they started for many by unlocking Rs 9,000 crore in employee stock option plans (ESOPs) and creating a new class of “crorepatis” within Swiggy.

Nearly five thousand current and former employees will make huge money with this opportunity, as reported by Economic Times.

Reacting to this, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal shared his experience with Zomato’s IPO, had earlier made an observation at the “ET Startup Awards: sudden wealth can create challenges for individuals”.

Zomato’s IPO in 2021 set a precedent as its many employees earned crores of rupees. However, Zomato’s journey since then reveals some critical lessons for Swiggy’s new millionaires. Goyal noted that after Zomato’s public listing, the company underwent a significant cultural shift, reports Economic Times.

While the IPO provided financial gains for employees, it also introduced a period of complacency for many employees that slowed progress within the organization. Many team members, now financially secure, lost their drive, inadvertently stalling company initiatives, adds Economic Times report.

“The IPO was good and the business was doing what it was doing, and a lot of people made a lot of money for the first time in their lives, and these are competent people. Competent people can’t recognise that they are actually being complacent. They don’t seek progress anymore,” Goyal said at the Economic Times Startup Awards 2024.

“They are tuned in that way but they are not letting any progress happen. That’s what we had come down to. There was no work happening inside the organisation for a while. I had to literally clear out pretty much everybody who had lost that drive and then reboot the organisation,” he added.

The inflow of wealth had a complex impact; while it empowered employees, it also dulled the sense of urgency and innovation essential for a fast-moving tech company like Zomato. Goyal ultimately made the difficult decision to reboot his organization, clearing out some people and roles and reassigning tasks to rekindle the drive and focus needed to keep Zomato moving forward, shared Goyal.