Ola's Bhavish Aggarwal Accused of Abrasive Behavior by Former and Current Employees
CEO Bhavish Aggarwal. Image Courtesy: NDTV
Several current and former Ola employees have told Bloomberg about the ruthless and abrasive behaviour of the company's founder and CEO, Bhavish Aggarwal, which alienated staff and upset board members.
The report particularly highlights how the culture inside Ola Electric has turned antagonistic over the last couple of years. The employees have alleged that Aggarwal repeatedly used inappropriate language towards staff, calling them "useless." He even tore up presentations for minor discrepancies.
Furthermore, meetings that were supposed to last for an hour would finish in 10 minutes due to Aggarwal's impatient behaviour over printing paper's quality, a crooked paper clip, or even small sentence mistakes in documents.
In one specific instance mentioned in the report, Aggarwal "asked an employee to run three laps around the several-acre-large Ola Futurefactory" because the latter didn't leave open a shuttered entryway.
Interestingly, in an interview last month, Aggarwal mentioned how Ola Electric is on a difficult journey, and "passions and emotions run high" in the company.
"But I don't want to choose an easier journey for myself or for Ola. My anger, my frustration- that's me as a whole," Aggarwal had said.
Aggarwal's behaviour had led to several employees distancing them from the company. In one instance, Ramesh Bagna, Zilingo's former chief financial officer, declined to join Ola Electric days after accepting an employment offer. The company's founder is trying to "rival the likes of Elon Musk's Tesla and Chinese conglomerate BYD Company" in his ambition for Ola Electric.
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