Hola Ola! Hope all’s well

These days, it’s common for companies to release videos on how great it is as a workplace. Clearly they want to attract best of talent and want to flaunt why their employees feel that Ola is the best place to work.

We came across one such video posted by Ola Cabs, titled, ‘We are Ola.’ The video further reveals that for four consecutive years Ola has featured among the top companies India would like to work for.

Starting with Rahul Maroli, VP, Ola who says, “At Ola you are constantly encouraged to think BIG, it is not about what it is today but what you can make of it tomorrow.”

Well let’s move on to the next. Ah! It’s none other than Annett Mcgowan, HR manager. “There is an adrenaline rush to it which I really enjoy. The vibe and energy at work each day is what keeps me going,” says Mcgowan.

And as promised at the beginning of the video, colleagues do talk about why they cherish working for Ola?

Why does Ola or for that matter any other company need to tell the world it is a great place to work?

We all know that it is a talent driven market and everyone is fighting for the best. Talent, today can make or break a company.

No points to guess, but most of these videos highlight companies and employees sharing their views and are done to catch the attention of potential talent as well as internal audience – we wonder how effective they are in influencing a potential candidate.

Seemingly, social media has become important for business organisations and they all want to leverage it to market themselves. Essentially a lot of brands spend time and energy to make such videos.

We ponder if it is worth spending time and energy to create such videos.

Last year, Ola Cabs went through a rough patch, as they faced sudden resignations from the top brass — starting with the COO, Vishal Kaul, who resigned in the month of May, followed by the exit of Saikaran Krishnamurthy (senior VP, growth) in September, and then Joy Bandekar (corporate president, new initiatives)

For the firm, it was another jolt when the chief people officer, Susheel Balakrishnan submitted his papers in November. CEO and Senior advisor, Srinivas Chunduru was reportedly appointed as interim CHRO.

Since then, Chunduru has been the acting CHRO, and has been juggling all the different roles of CEO, board of directors, senior advisor and CHRO.

Coming back to the video, the colleagues are seen at work and enthusiastically talk about how challenging their work is. They say they do not mind the challenges because their work only energises them.

At the end, the video does mention ‘LinkedIn – top companies’ as the source for their claim that Ola is one of the top companies Indians wish to work at.