Opportunity bed for an employee at Ola is vast and they can see their efforts and goals materialise in a shorter span of time. This kind of empowerment results in employees having a greater sense of ownership and passion for what they do

Ola is focused on leveraging the best of technology and building innovative solutions ground-up that are relevant on a global scale. Employees are at the center of everything at Ola and some of the key areas of focus are learning and development, flexibility and employee engagement.

Employee engagement

The ride-hailing platform believes making people happy cannot be restricted to salary and perks. 

Srinivas Chunduru, Group CHRO, Ola and CEO, Ola Skilling says, “Ola aims at ‘nurturing entrepreneurs.’ through opportunities to grow, both on professional as well as personal fronts which is the real key behind keeping them engaged and invested in the company. The culture we follow here at Ola fosters growth, passion, and purpose; and that is a big differentiator.” 

The cab aggregator allows employees to think big, think out-of-the-box, be agile, take risks, learn to lead as well as become mentors to other colleagues when needed. The employees can explore different areas of interest and work on projects of varying scale and complexity. 

Given the sheer size, scale, and fast-paced nature of the business that spans across geographies, the opportunity bed for an employee at Ola is vast and they can see their efforts and goals materialise in a shorter span of time. This kind of empowerment results in employees having a greater sense of ownership and passion for what they do. 

Srinivas adds, “Employees today seek independence and need opportunities to learn, fail, learn from their failures and go for it again, hone their existing skills, acquire new skills, and work culture at Ola is open and transparent allowing complete independence to its employees on assignments who are then rated through several feedback sessions and one-on-one discussions as a run-up to the final performance assessment.”  

Following a similar style in hiring, Ola ensures employees have a macro view and understanding of the business and the industry, also allowing them the freedom to take on more challenges from time to time and give the cross-functional experience to help their capabilities and skills. 

Campus program, Elevate; is built around the philosophy of giving young minds sufficient exposure to not only learn about the business but also learn about their own strengths and weaknesses. Involving them in strategic projects early on, enables them to inculcate an appetite for risk at an early stage of their career. Even senior experienced leaders pivot to new roles altogether, should they need to, allowing them to continue experimenting in their careers, much like entrepreneurs.  

Workforce at Ola

Ola recently launched a program wherein it is looking to work with Virtual Recruiters, and believes it will be immensely useful for anyone who wants to take up options like working remotely or working after taking a break or are looking for part-time job opportunities. Moreover, the company also has functional experts across technology, HR, Food, etc, who are working with us in the capacity of advisors and consultants on specific projects and campaigns. 

Srinivas talks about the workforce at Ola which is between the age group of 24 to 27 years along with experienced leaders from the industry, who bring in passion along with wisdom! By immersing these young minds in problem-solving that is both real and tangible, and empowering them to take decisions where they can see the impact almost instantaneously, Ola encourages  opportunities to learn from and to try again, and it won’t matter if they fail again, as long as they keep growing incrementally and learning from it each time. 

Learning and upskilling

Organisations today need to understand the importance of skilling and upskilling their workplace regularly. Businesses have to be cognizant of the fact that learning and development programmes that are customised for employees at various levels, have far-reaching benefits in keeping the skills of their workforce relevant.

We ourselves keep investing in various learning and development programmes. 

Ola has a 12-month immersive program for campus hires from various engineering and business schools called ‘Elevate’. The program helps campus hires make a smooth transition from academics to the workforce. As part of their training, a new joinee goes through various levels of induction wherein they interact with the leadership at various business verticals with the goal of imparting hands-on experience and deeper insight into various business verticals, procedures, and objectives. 

It is imperative to realise that constant learning and upskilling efforts are the need of the hour! The economy is evolving with new technologies, products and demand cycles; and the only way to deal with these challenges successfully is through investing in the learning and development programmes for the employees.