Coronavirus Lockdown: Ola Lays Off 1,400 Employees As Part Of Major Downsizing Operation

Ola, one of India's largest ride-hailing cab service companies has announced that they will be downsizing their operations in the country. The company stated that they have been severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic over the last two months.

As part of their downsizing operations, Ola has stated that they will be laying off 1,400 of their employees in the country. This is approximately one-fourth of their total 6,000 member workforce. The job cuts were effective one week ago and comes after Uber also announced similar layoffs in India.

Ola Lays Off 1,400 Employees In India

Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-Founder & CEO, Ola released a written communication to all the company employees. In the statement released, he stated the decision made was one of the toughest he had ever taken.

He stated, "We had all hoped in the beginning that this would be a short-lived crisis and that its impact would be temporary. Over the past couple of months, all members of our extended leadership team have taken significant salary cuts to be able to help the organization delay tougher people decisions as we waited for the situation to evolve. But unfortunately, it's not been a short crisis."

"It is going to take a long time for people to go out and about like before. With more companies preferring to have a large number of employees work from home, air travel limited to essential trips and vacations being put off for better times, the impact of this crisis is definitely going to be long-drawn for us. The world is not going to revert to the pre-COVID era anytime soon."

The written communication also stated that due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India and the subsequent lockdown, the company's revenue has fallen by over 95 per cent in the last two months.

Ola Lays Off 1,400 Employees In India

The company has confirmed that they will provide affected employees a minimum financial payout of three months of their fixed salary, irrespective of their notice period. Affected employees will also be able to continue using their medical and accidental insurance covers up to the 31st December 2020, or till the start of a new job; whichever comes earlier. Ola has also stated that they will help affected employees find new jobs as well.

Thoughts On Ola Having To Cut Jobs In India Due To The COVID-19 Pandemic

Since the 24th of March 2020, India has been under lockdown, which has resulted in the complete shutdown of all businesses and operations for over two months now. This has caused a severe economic blow to Ola and their operations in the country. It is extremely sad to see the company having to take such drastic steps, however, these are unprecedented times.

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Read more on: #auto news
Article Published On: Thursday, May 28, 2020, 15:36 [IST]
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