upGrad rewards 600 employees with ESOPs

upGrad also announced the introduction of flexible paid-time-off or leave policy and a spate of work-friendly policies for its 2,500 team members, which will allow the employees to design their own paid-leaves calendar themselves, thus enabling flexible work culture across the board.

In July, upGrad had also paid back salaries deducted during the lockdown period due to COVID-19. (upGrad )

Online education firm upGrad on Tuesday announced the grant of ESOPs to around 600 employees, who have completed more than a year with the firm, following its stellar performance in 2020.

"We have seen our workforce adapting to the remote-work mechanism with sheer diligence and have worked harder throughout the year, contributing to our steep business growth and driving career outcomes for our learners.

"It is our conscious call to grant ESOPs (employee stock ownership plan) to our team as gratitude towards their commitment. We believe this will further foster their and their family's belongingness to our institution and create a shared ownership, in addition to long term wealth creation opportunity with us," upGrad co-founder and MD Mayank Kumar said in a statement.

"We want our employees to share our success, hence the ESOPs. Also, we want to meet the personal needs, hence the flexibility to carve better work-life balance.

"This is just the beginning of the series of progressive policy changes that will be implemented over the year, our effort to create better employee experience and a happier workforce," upGrad President – HR, Preeti Kaul said.

In July, upGrad had also paid back salaries deducted during the lockdown period due to COVID-19, the statement said.