Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal's Tough Stance On Work-From-Home Misuse Goes Viral; Internet Reacts

The tone of the email has sparked mixed reactions online. Some users commended Aggarwal's straightforward approach to promoting discipline, while others criticised it as excessively harsh

The CEO is said to have announced stricter attendance measures starting Monday, with the Human Resources team instructed to take action against repeat offenders

Source : X

A screenshot of an email allegedly sent by Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal to his employees about the 'misuse' of the work-from-home (WFH) culture has gone viral on social media. In a strongly worded email, Aggarwal highlighted his concerns about the lack of attendance and the abuse of workplace flexibility. In the alleged message, Aggarwal accused employees of neglecting their responsibilities and described the situation as disrespectful to those colleagues who are genuinely committed to their work.

"Hi all, I've been going through our attendance data. It is shocking that a lot of people have very poor attendance. I would imagine everyone has the basic self respect to not fleece the company by not even turning up for work. It's even disrespectful to those colleagues who genuinely work hard and contribute,” Aggarwal said in his message to Ola employees.

The CEO is said to have announced stricter attendance measures starting Monday, with the Human Resources (HR) team instructed to take action against repeat offenders.

Wow. A really stern message from Ola founder @bhash to staff on work from office and poor attendance data, which he has been tracking.

Don't fleece the company by not showing up,per internal note.

Apparently staff have said facial recognition data is wrong on attendance. pic.twitter.com/14kuBgGhww

— digbijay mishra (@digbijaymishra1) December 17, 2024

“And we don't have any WFH policy except for genuine needs. Monday onwards a more stringent attendance expectation will start. And those of you who have misused the freedom so far, HR will be having a conversation with you. The best excuse I've heard so far is that the facial recognition system data is wrong," Ola CEO added.

In response to complaints about Ola’s facial recognition system for attendance, Aggarwal dismissed them, saying, “Let's not insult basic intelligence. Come to work, do good work, and feel a part of Ola's mission."

The tone of the email has sparked mixed reactions online. Some users commended Aggarwal's straightforward approach to promoting discipline, while others criticised it as excessively harsh. 

“Messages like these reminds me of old age lala companies, a recent example can be seen with FIITJEE. OLA is a new age billion dollar company. In the first place cracks in the system lead the misuse, why it took so long to identify. CEO of company looking into attendance records, shows a level of micro management. Does this means the CEO does not rely his core team or mid senior, mid management. Second, messages like these, shows the kind of environment that is being provided for the employees. We have seen cases where one entrepreneur was called as Steve Jobs and ended up somewhere in the dark circle. My request, the company is on a mission and people like me are really looking forward to see this company compete globally not only with products but with value as well. I am no expert, I said what I thought, maybe right may be wrong,” wrote one of the X users.

Another internet user added, "CEO will look the attendance because he has no other work with him, this is a lala company,u can see what has happened in last few yrs customers fighting for their issues to get resolved but no one to hear but bhavish is looking after attendance this guy has gone mad."