AJIO Reviews

1. Significant disparity between how different teams operate leads to a lot of infighting when cross functional projects are being run. So following are the cons illustrated by team: a. Finance: Think that they have a lot of control over proceedings, when actually they are just mute spectators for most part, only raising their voices when pushed to the wall. No established processes in place and home to folks who are very set in their ways, so asking them to change is asking for trouble. b. Buying and Category: Directionless despite having some of the industry stalwarts in their ranks. The biggest reason for this is the lack of leadership right at the very top (completely clueless, even when it comes to KPIs) and a submissive attitude that makes them not push external parties, but rather succumb to their pressure. Do not have a lot of control on operational decisions as most of them get dictated by Planning or leadership team. c. Technology and Tech Operations: Definitely a very hard working group (if you just look at the number of hours and not actual impact). Full of politics and with very little control over what they do. If it was up to them almost the entire team would resign in a week. But since they have very little to show in terms of impactful technical work and because most of the technology they work upon are archaic, their exit options are very limited. The team and the infrasteucture is built in such a way that even the smallest of asks end up taking 10X the time they should actually take. No structure and no will whatsoever. d. Product: They hire bright folks from good business and tech schools. But Product team at Ajio is only responsible for highlighting road blocks and facilitating (not leading) work between Business and Technology teams. We do not create BRD or do impact assessment of requests and instead ask business teams to do that. So the team ends up doing perhaps the most mundane of jobs at this company, leading to a lot of attrition. Also the first reaction to all changes has to be a “No” as getting the technology team to work on any ask is a really tough task. So most of the brainstorming sessions are less about idea generation and more about telling people why their ideas can’t be implemented. e. Planning: They too hire some of the smartest folks from top business schools only to curb their growth potential. 99% of the decisions taken by the team are top-down ones leaving very little room for professional growth. And should you dare to disagree, be ready to be thrown under the bus in front of everyone. Still the authority that this team has over business operations is scary and leaves very little room for other teams to show their thought leadership. Also, they know their importance to the business, and they will make sure that you realise that too. f. BI: They would look like the busiest team of the lot, dishing out one report after the other. But in the end, there is no connect with actual business requirements on the floor. Most of the projects that they do are too inward looking and not actionable. But still, a good team to be in at Ajio because at least they get to do interesting work even if others might not deem it that useful. g. Warehouse and Catalog: “Yes Men” who would only raise their voices when something irreparable has happened h. HR: Heads are good, responsible folks, but everyone under them is happy to do their basic job, even if it takes them double the time than it should, and even if much more is required out of them. Perhaps the biggest reason why the culture at this place is so rotten (back stabbing, politics etc.), is that these guys do not want to do anything to keep that in check. In a nutshell the way they treat you is very similar to how you get treated by the officials at a government sector bank, in every aspect you can possibly imagine. You can only imagine how they would treat ex-employees with their separation processes, but I have heard really horrid stories from some of them. i. Site Operations: The 3rd biggest bottle neck to the growth of the company. They are so resistant to change that most business team members lose the will to even ask them to do stuff. j. Marketing: Intelligent folks who have become too comfortable doing what they do. No innovation and creativity what so ever, and most of the focus is still on remarketing activities when a 1st year MBA student can tell them that the focus should actually be on improving the brand recall. But to be fair, they do have severe budget constraints and were without a leader for almost a year till recently. But whatever the reasons, Marketing is still the 2nd biggest reason why Ajio is not where it should be. k. Directors, Department Heads and Above: The single biggest bottle neck to the overall growth of the company. When all your leaders are involved in highly operational daily work, there is no way that the company can keep track of the larger vision and the big picture. It is because of these guys that there is such a strong disconnect between where the company wants to be versus what it is doing to get there. All they care about is that whatever random ideas they get in their heads (without any research and full of subjective contexts) need to be implemented at the earliest, without proper readiness assessments or vetting. After every weekend their subordinates have new sets of instructions from them, it is almost as if they had a dream over the weekend and thought it is worth trying out. 2. As highlighted above, most of the teams are resistant to change. So even though you will have opportunity to do novel work it will end up taking 2-3 times more time and effort than usual. 3. One of the worst paymasters in the industry. If they find out that you are eager to join, they will end up matching all your existing salary components (maybe bump up a couple) and then offer you peanuts during next year’s increments. BTW – if you join after April, you will also end up losing next year’s increment. 4. Politics and talking behind people’s backs are things that are engrained within the Reliance culture, and Ajio is no different. If you are strictly against this, please refrain from joining. But chances are that if you join, you will get molded in such a way that even you will start practicing it – it has happened so many times in front of my eyes over the last 3 years. 5. Pathetic infrastructure facilities at the BTM office – food, seating, toilets, meeting rooms etc. - they are way behind their competitors in having a good office space in all regards. Thankfully, the new Sarjapur office is much better (except for food).