Bhavish Aggarwal emulates Musk, mandates weekly updates from Ola employees

Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal has introduced a new initiative, ‘Kya Chal Raha Hain,’ requiring employees to submit weekly reports detailing their completed tasks. The mandate, reminiscent of Elon Musk’s directive to US federal workers earlier this year to submit weekly progress reports or face termination.

According to a CNBC report, an internal email was sent to Ola employees last week instructing them to send a brief update every Sunday to Aggarwal and their reporting manager. The update must contain three to five bullet points summarizing their work. Employees were asked to use the subject line ‘Weekly updates’ while submitting their reports to the email ID Kyachalrahahai@olagroup.in.

“We're starting 'Kya Chai Raha Hai?' — a simple way to share your weekly updates directly with me and your managers, starting today. Please send a brief update to your manager and Kyachalrahahai@olagroup.in (email will be active in an hour or so) with 3-5 bullet points about what you got done last week. Keep it simple and to the point. Use the email subject: 'Weekly updates'. The deadline for this is today end of day. Going forward, we will expect the email before Sunday end of day. Everyone has to send this, no exceptions,” Aggarwal wrote in his email, as quoted by CNBC.

The directive comes at a time when Ola Electric Mobility is laying off over 1,000 employees and contract workers to cut losses, according to a Bloomberg report. The affected departments include charging infrastructure, customer relations, procurement, and fulfilment. 

The announcement has drawn comparisons to Elon Musk’s controversial mandate for US federal employees. Earlier this year, Musk required federal workers to submit weekly progress reports or face termination, leading to widespread backlash and legal challenges.