Snapdeal begins payouts to employees it fired; value of Esops go down

Snapdeal has started payout process of employees it fired two months back. Although it did not disclose how many employees were laid-off, it is estimated around 1,500 people were asked to leave across three units- Snapdeal, FreeCharge and Vulcan Express

As Snapdeal has begun the process, one of the issues concerning employees is the value of Employee Stock Options (Esops).

The Esops have gone down drastically. In May 2015, Snapdeal had made several senior hires with the promise of heavy chunks of Esops.

"I joined Snapdeal two years ago, when the company was valued at $6.5 billion. I was entitled to shares worth Rs 7-8 lakh. When I checked the value of my shares in the first week of March, they had fallen to Rs 1.8 lakh,” a former employee involved in strategy and business development at the organisation told ET.

"At FreeCharge, employees have received their severance and settlements as indicated. I received my payout between April 10 and 12 which was the promised payout date,” a former senior executive told ET.

Reportedly, severance packages for the affected employees ranged between two and four months' of salaries.