Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal used Punjabi epithets with staff, tore presentations in anger: Report
Ola employees have revealed founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal's aggressive and unsparing behaviour at work, which they say has upset board members and managers. Employees said there were instances where Bhavish Aggarwal used Punjabi epithets at staff and told teams they were useless.
FollowOla CEO Bhavish Aggarwal is undoubtedly one of India's most driven entrepreneurs, but some of the company's staff and board members appear to have grown weary of his unrelenting pace and leadership style. More than two dozen former and present workers who requested anonymity were cited in a media report exposing Aggarwal's harsh and unrelenting behaviour at work.
Employees said there were instances where Bhavish Aggarwal used Punjabi epithets at staff and the teams that they were “useless”. They further said that he tore presentation materials and that sessions were cancelled because he would lose his temper over poor sentence structure or the quality of the paper.
In another example, Aggarwal saw a closed doorway that should have been left open and instructed a custodial manager at the Ola Futurefactory to run three laps around the several-acre-large plant.
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Aggarwal told media, anger and frustration were "me as a whole". “Passions and emotions run high and we are not on an easy journey,” he said.
Although Ola Electric is still making valiant efforts to increase sales, supply chain issues have caused production to be delayed. Additionally, some customers have brought attention to the problem of faulty batteries and accident-causing software, which has resulted in product recalls and Twitter apologies.
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Over thirty-six top executives have left Aggarwal's two billion-dollar businesses, Ola Electric and ANI Technologies Pvt, which oversees Ola's ride-hailing operations, within a year or two after joining. Aggarwal hopes to make Ola Electric a serious competitor to companies like Elon Musk's Tesla and the Chinese behemoth BYD Company.
Ola had earlier this year published concept pictures of its first electric vehicle. Although the firm declined to give its name, it stated that it will be made available for purchase in 2024.
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