'Have basic self-respect to not fleece company': Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal slams employees over poor attendance in leaked message

Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal is once again in the spotlight, but this time, it's not for sparring with comedian Kunal Kamra. Instead, it's his employees who seem to have drawn his ire, as a leaked message from Aggarwal reveals his frustration over poor attendance at work.

In the strongly worded message, Aggarwal begins by expressing disbelief: "I've been going through our attendance data. It is shocking that a lot of people have very poor attendance."

He didn't mince words, adding, "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 work hard and contribute."

Making it clear that work-from-home (WFH) isn't an option unless for genuine reasons, Aggarwal announced stricter rules starting Monday. "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," he warned.

Aggarwal also took a jab at excuses offered for low attendance. "The best excuse I've hear so far is that the facial recognition system data is wrong. Let's not insult basic intelligence," he concluded, leaving no room for ambiguity about his stance on the issue.

A couple of days earlier, Aggarwal had shared Ola Electric's ambitious plans for the future, declaring 2025 as the "year of products": "So, this whole year, we've been focused on consolidating our operations, making them more efficient, and also engineering the product behind the scenes. Next year, you will see, in 12 months, we will launch maybe one product a month," he said, hinting at a major expansion in Ola's portfolio.

Reactions to Bhavish Aggarwal's message

Reactions to Bhavish Aggarwal's email were divided, with some supporting him and others criticising his approach.

"This is the kind of email that would make a good employee leave the company," one user commented.

Another wrote, "Rather than asking them to talk to HR, it's @bhash who must introspect as to why they are not turning up to work."

On the other hand, some agreed with Aggarwal. "When employees don't even turn up to office for work, the productivity and quality certainly goes inferior without timely/quicker collaboration between teams, which is clearly visible in their products and services," a supporter shared.

Another noted, "Why are we criticising only Bhavish? What about the employees who don't turn up for work, game the system and still think they deserve salary? Respect is a 2 way street. When you value your job, you can expect value in return."

Interestingly, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who has been vocal against work-from-home policies, expressed similar views last year. "Those working from home are detached from reality," Musk had said, questioning the fairness of remote work when factory workers and service providers cannot do the same.

And if the world's richest person is so firmly against work-from-home policies, perhaps there's some mettle in what he's saying.

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