The slowdown in hiring in Reliance Retail Ventures has almost singlehandedly brought down the headcount for Reliance Group in FY24 when compared to FY23. The oil-to-telecom conglomerate has seen a 10% reduction in its overall headcount to 367,507 in FY24 compared to 412,130 in FY23.
Looking at the three core businesses under Reliance Industries —O2C, telecom and retail — the retail story emerges as a distinct driver for the headcount drop. RIL’s retail business, housed under Reliance Retail Ventures, has seen a drop in headcount by 38,000 employees.
This has been driven by a slowdown in hiring for the business as new hiring for the unit was down by almost 75,000 year-on-year. So, even while voluntary separations in Reliance Retail came down y-o-y, the overall headcount fell by 38,029.
The company’s telecom arm —Reliance Jio — has also seen a similar trend, though at a much lower scale. The total headcount at Jio came down by 5,259 while new hiring was down by 14,250 employees. Here too, voluntary separations were down 8,206 y-o-y.
RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani addressed the negative movement in headcount in his speech during the FY24 annual general meeting held in the last week of August as part of the new employment strategies being adopted by the group.
“The nature of employment creation is changing globally, primarily due to technological interventions and flexible business models. Therefore, rather than just the traditional direct employment model, Reliance is embracing newer incentive-based engagement models,” Ambani said in his address during the 2024 AGM.
He added: “This helps employees earn better and instils the spirit of enterprise in them. That is why the direct employment numbers show a slight dip in the annual figures, although total employment created by Reliance has gone up.”
He further said in his address that Reliance added 170,000 jobs in FY24, and if traditional and “newer engagement” models of employment were to be considered, the total headcount for Reliance would be 650,000.
The newer engagement models of employment that Ambani refers to mostly point towards a shift to project-based engagements where the employee is hired for specific projects or tasks within an organisation, and once that task or project is complete, the employee and the employer part ways, say staffing industry executives.
If this is the case, then going by the permanent employment numbers disclosed by Reliance in its annual report, and the number that Ambani mentioned in his AGM address, the project-based workers already account for almost half of the group’s total headcount.
Coming to retail and telecom, industry executives and staffing experts said the decrease in headcount may merely be a result of the units’ growth phase. Massive hiring by both units was witnessed in FY23. While the retail unit worked on expanding its footprint across the country, the telecom arm prepared for 5G rollout.
“Reliance’s business verticals have reached a level of operational maturity, supported by significant digital initiatives. The company has optimised its workforce to manage operations efficiently,” Kartik Narayan, chief executive officer – staffing at TeamLease, said. He added that this, however, doesn’t rule out future headcount growth as new business opportunities emerge and strategies evolve.
“The recent reduction in workforce is largely due to a decision to not backfill certain roles, particularly in the retail sector, as part of ongoing efforts to optimise resources. This reflects a broader focus on cost management and operational efficiency as the business continues to adapt to changing market conditions,” Narayan said.
For Reliance Retail, FY24 may also have been the year that the combined workforce from various acquisitions over FY22 and FY23 were streamlined, another staffing expert observed. Reliance went on a shopping spree in FY22 and FY23, picking up stakes or buying out multiple companies like JustDial, Metro Cash and Carry, Milkbasket, Clovia and V-Retail.
The acquisitions would have resulted in some profiles being duplicated and as the mergers settled in and employees left the company, there would be no need to replace them, executives said.