'It's shocking many employees have very poor attendance, don't fleece the company': Ola's Aggarwal

Ola Electric founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal has reportedly sent a message to the company's employees, expressing disappointment over poor attendance.

In a strongly worded communication, Aggarwal allegedly said he was "shocked" after reviewing the company's attendance data. He emphasized that basic self-respect should prompt employees to show up for work and not "fleece the company" by skipping office hours.

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

"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," the message read.

The CEO pointed out that the lack of attendance was not only unfair to the company but also disrespectful to colleagues who "genuinely work hard and contribute." Bhavish clarified that Ola does not enforce any formal Work From Home (WFH) policy, except for genuine cases.

"It’s even disrespectful to those colleagues who genuinely work hard and contribute. And we don’t have any WFH policy except for genuine needs".

He warned employees who had taken advantage of leniency so far, stating that HR would address such cases individually. He even called out excuses like claims of "facial recognition system errors" as an insult to intelligence.

"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. Let’s not insult basic intelligence. 🤷‍♂️," he said.

"Come to work, do good work, and feel a part of Ola’s mission," Aggarwal added.