Beyond the Brand: A Ground-Level Look into Life at Ola Electric

Ola Electric has become a high-visibility employer in India’s EV story but employee narratives paint a far harsher picture than the brand’s glossy positioning. The company combines intense ambition and bold diversity bets with an aggressively demanding culture, repeated layoffs, and serious questions around sustainability of its people practices.

Work Culture & Environment: EV Mission, At a Human Cost

Employees and community discussions describe Ola Electric’s culture as extremely high-pressure, top‑down, and often toxic. Employee review threads highlight six‑day weeks, normalized late nights, and expectations of 12–14 hour days, with anecdotes of people being called on Sundays and leadership rhetoric that appears dismissive of conventional rest days. Insider posts speak of a fear‑driven environment, public humiliation, and “off with your head” leadership when targets are not met, alongside frequent management churn that makes stability rare. While a few roles mention “good to work” experiences and strong exposure, the dominant signal from reviews is that the internal environment is volatile, harsh, and emotionally draining.

Career Growth & Learning: Great Exposure, Short Tenures

On the learning front, Ola Electric does offer intense exposure to EV manufacturing, large‑scale operations, and rapid execution cycles. Program managers and frontline leaders mention it as a “good learning platform, just don’t stay long,” reflecting strong skill development but unsustainable conditions. However, average tenures are often reported as less than a year in insider posts, and narratives around “maintenance mode” with limited innovation, especially outside flagship lines, are common. High churn, constant restructuring, and leadership volatility erode the benefits of exposure, making long‑term career building at the company feel risky despite the brand name.

Job Security: Hypergrowth, Then Heavy Layoffs

Job security is arguably one of Ola Electric’s weakest dimensions. In late 2024 and early 2025, the company reportedly laid off around 500 employees followed by another 1,000-1,200 employees over a quarter of its ~4,000‑strong disclosed workforce-across procurement, fulfilment, customer relations, and charging infrastructure, driven by mounting financial losses and shrinking market share. Insider accounts add that mass exits also occur around appraisal cycles, reinforcing a “hire and fire” perception. Combined with ongoing regulatory scrutiny and consumer complaints, many employees publicly advise others to treat roles at Ola Electric as high‑risk, even when the brand and compensation seem attractive on paper.

Work-Life Balance: Weekends Are Optional, For the Company

Work‑life balance feedback is consistently poor. Indeed ratings place work‑life balance near the bottom of their detailed breakdown, and employee reviews bluntly say there is “no work life balance and job security, hire and fire is the trend,” with people “squeezed for the salary.” Multiple community posts describe expectations of 12-14 hour days, working six or seven days a week, and late departures from office being treated as “half day” rather than extra effort. Public comments attributed to the CEO questioning the relevance of weekends and conventional work‑rest structures only deepen concerns that extreme availability is a cultural feature, not an exception. While a few roles, especially in certain sales or service pockets, mention manageable schedules, they appear to be the exception rather than the norm.

Compensation & Benefits: Pay as Justification for Pain

Compensation at Ola Electric can be attractive, particularly for senior engineering, product, and managerial roles; external salary data indicates competitive packages for product managers, program managers, and consultants relative to the Indian market. Some employees explicitly list “salary” as the main pro in their reviews, acknowledging that the company pays well compared to local alternatives. However, this is repeatedly framed as compensation for high stress, long hours, and instability, with reviews that “they squeeze everything out for the salary” and that benefits and policies look far better on paper than in practice. For interns and junior technical roles, stipend ranges are decent but not exceptional, and reviews caution that increments and long‑term rewards are uncertain in such a volatile environment.

Diversity & Inclusion: Bold Women‑First Moves, But Narrow Focus

Ola Electric has made headline‑grabbing diversity moves, most notably its plan for an all‑women workforce at the massive Futurefactory scooter plant where over 10,000 women are to be employed across production roles. This initiative is positioned as a flagship step toward economic empowerment and skills training for women in manufacturing, backed by investments in upskilling and inclusive hiring. These efforts, along with messaging around gender equality, place Ola Electric ahead of many traditional manufacturers on visible gender diversity. However, internal stories and external commentary still highlight broader cultural toxicity and disrespectful leadership behaviours that undercut inclusion in practice, especially outside the marquee factory narrative. The net effect is a company doing something genuinely bold for women’s participation, while still battling serious systemic cultural issues.

For India’s EV talent market, Ola Electric offers high brand visibility, deep domain exposure, and some standout diversity initiatives but it comes with heavy trade‑offs. Across work culture, job security, and work‑life balance, signals from employee reviews and insider accounts are strongly negative, with multiple rounds of layoffs, extreme work expectations, and a fear‑driven environment widely reported. Compensation and learning potential partially offset these risks, but only for those prepared to tolerate intense pressure and uncertainty.

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