Ola Denies Mass Layoffs; Says Only 5-7% Of Employees Impacted

Bengaluru-headquartered cab-hailing unicorn Ola has been in the limelight as it charts its way towards being a public company in the next few years. However, today (December 11) reports surfaced that claimed Ola would be laying off around 20% of its workforce, i.e. around 1000 employees to cut costs.

However, talking to Inc42, an Ola spokesperson refuted the report saying that only 5-7% of Ola’s 4,500 employee base has been affected as part of the layoffs. The spokesperson added that this includes reallocation of resources within its group companies.

The company had confirmed layoffs last month when it was reported that Ola will lay off around 7-8% of its over 4500 employees. At the time as well, it was confirmed that many more employees will be transitioned to other parts of Ola’s empire — Ola Electric, Ola Foods, Ola Financial Services etc.

The layoffs are part of Ola’s plans to go public in the next 18-24 months and cut down losses. Inc42 had earlier reported that on a standalone basis for its Indian business, Ola has cut down losses by nearly 56% down to INR 1160.27 Cr in FY19 from INR 2676.7 Cr in FY18.

In terms of standalone revenue, Ola earned INR 2155.21 Cr in FY19, a 15.8% Y-o-Y increase from INR 1860.61 Cr in FY18.

Ola spokesperson told us, “To enable our rapid growth, we have continued to evolve every aspect of our operational philosophy at periodic intervals. With a view to become more nimble and have a sharper focus on growth and profitability, we are redesigning the organisation to build a structure that strengthens and leverages our local and global scale and enables faster decision making across all of Ola’s group companies.”

“We also continue to attract the best talent across the board to support our growth and ambition.  Our organisational redesign aims to rightsize all our operations as well as leverage skills sets and experience of mobility employees in available positions in new business verticals.”

The company says that its resultant working model will form the foundation of the next chapter in Ola’s growth. However, the report said, “Almost half of the 1,000 include executive-level employees including senior managers and the other half is expected to be employees at mid-level functions.”

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