Reliance reduced workforce by 42,000 in FY24

Workforce at Reliance Industries saw a nearly 11% decrease, amounting to about 42,000 people, in FY24, according to the Reliance Industries’ latest annual report. This move was driven by a focus on cost efficiency, especially in the retail sector, which also experienced store closures and a slower expansion rate. The total number of employees at Reliance is 3,47,362 in FY24, down from 3,89,414 in FY23. New hires decreased by more than a third in FY24, with Reliance hiring 1,71,116 new employees across various businesses, according to the company's latest annual report.

“Reliance hired 1.71 lakh new employees across diverse businesses, expanding its direct workforce to nearly 3.48 lakh. The impact extends beyond its own employees to numerous indirect livelihood opportunities created within the ecosystem,” the report states.

Out of Reliance's workforce of 3,47,362 employees, 74,317 are women. Among the new recruits, 41,092 were women.

Reliance Retail trained over 12,861 candidates this year, placing more than 12,100 individuals, with 61% from rural backgrounds and 19% being women. Women make up 21.4% of Reliance's total workforce, with 98 employees returning from maternity leave this financial year. The retail industry has a high employee turnover rate, especially in store operations, it adds.

In the overall workforce, 53.9% are under the age of 30. Among the new hires, 81.8% are under 30, and 24% are female. Of those who left voluntarily, 74.9% were under 30, and 22.7% were female. The overall voluntary separations decreased to 1,43,280 in FY24 from 167,391 in FY23.

For Jio, 43% of reported attrition involved non-regular employees (fixed-term contracts, part-time workers, apprentices, and interns). The shift to commission-based roles reduced the need for new hiring in field jobs.

Reliance says it employs 1,723 differently-abled individuals, mainly in Reliance Retail, covering services like food, groceries, apparel, footwear, and toys. During FY24, the company says it provided over 28.80 million person-hours of training, and 2,726 new ideas were submitted under Mission Kurukshetra, an internal initiative for employee-generated business solutions. “The average learning hours per employee for O2C and E&P, Jio, and Retail are 34.72, 40.98 and 63.97 respectively,” the annual report adds.