Ola to lay off around 1,000 employees; to hire aggressively for Ola Electric

Mobility unicorn Ola is in the process of laying off around a 1,000 employees as the company shifts its focus towards Ola Electric, with reports that the latter may hire four people for every one person laid off at Ola. The move is considered a restructuring rather than a cost-cutting measure.

First reported by The Economic Times, the company was looking to let go of 400-500 people initially, but that number could balloon to around a 1,000 employees. The process is expected go on for a few weeks more as the company evaluates which employees to keep.

One executive reportedly told ET that Ola was asking employees to voluntarily resign, and delaying employee appraisals in the hope that they would resign. “The company is delaying the appraisal process of several employees who the company wants to fire--so that they resign,” an Ola employee said.

Ola Electric is looking to hire around 800 people for just the car business, with more expected to be employed in cell development.

Earlier this week, it was confirmed that Ola Electric signed a Rs 18,000 crore PLI agreement with the government regarding manufacturing of indigenous cells.