A fresher at Ola has died by suicide. His co-worker revealed on Reddit a couple of days ago that the said employee was doing the work of three people; and that he was under tremendous pressure at work.
As per HT.com, the company has not denied that the employee died by suicide, and revealed that the fresher had been on personal leave at the time of the incident.
The company reportedly admits that the employee had requested his manager for some time off to rest, and the same had been granted to him immediately on 8 April. About nine days later, he sought an extension saying that though he was better, he required some more time to rest. This extension was also granted to him.
The company has reportedly acknowledged how valuable the fresher was as an employee and has assured full support to the family during this difficult time.
Meanwhile, the co-worker of the deceased at Krutrim, the AI startup owned by Bhavish Aggarwal, has questioned why the issue has not been taken seriously and is surprised that there is no public outrage. He revealed on Reddit that the two people leading the project that the fresher was working on had quit. As a result the said fresher had been bearing the entire workload all on his own despite lack of sufficient experience. The Reddit user also revealed the name of a US-based manager at Krutrim whom he blamed for making the environment toxic at work with his lack of managerial skills. Following the revelation, the said manager removed his profile from LinkedIn.
The said manager, according to the deceased fresher’s co-worker, was known to make an appearance on calls just to reprimand people and then vanish. He apparently had no real connect with the Bangalore-based employees since he himself worked out of the US. He was also known to use foul language during meetings where he appeared to simply take out his frustration on those reporting to him.
Of course Ola has been heavily criticised on social media. The Reddit user claims that no visible improvement has been seen in the work environment at Ola even after this shocking incident. He claims that he has heard other co-workers contemplating quitting because they are sure they would be driven to suicide if they stay on any longer.