Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The company is cutting 10% of its staff and simplifying the structure to invest in ride-hailing.
Uber announced a large-scale reorganization that includes laying off about 3300 employees, or 10% of its global workforce. The ride-hailing service is also significantly limiting remote work, leaving it available only for about 1% of employees. Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi explained that the restructuring aims to reduce management layers, accelerate decision-making, and free up money for the development of ride-hailing, delivery, and autonomous transport, according to Bloomberg.
According to an Uber representative, the company will cut the number of managers by about 20%. Some leaders will be moved to individual contributor roles, while others will be laid off along with non-managerial staff. In addition, Uber will nearly halve the number of so-called “microteams” consisting of one or two employees, and will reduce the staff that is more than seven reporting levels below the chief executive.
“Uber’s growth brought an increase in management levels, a need for additional coordination, and blurred accountability,” wrote Khosrowshahi in a memo to employees.
As part of the reorganization, Uber is optimizing its engineering, science, and operations teams. In particular, three separate delivery teams that worked with restaurants, retail, and third-party brand services will be consolidated into a single structure. The company will also integrate the Core Services Engineering and Science units to reduce function duplication and speed product development.
One of the most notable changes is the new office work policy. Going forward, only about 1% of employees will be able to work fully remotely. The company will concentrate global teams in New York and San Francisco, regional teams in their respective regional hubs, and technical teams in designated technology hubs. At the same time, Uber will maintain the requirement to be in the office three days a week for most employees.
After the layoffs, Uber’s headcount will be just under 30 thousand employees — about the same as the company had in 2021 year. Khosrowshahi emphasized that the company plans to reinvest the saved money in supporting drivers, couriers, and partners, in growing the core business, and in the “autonomous future.”
Unlike other tech giants, notably Meta, which in recent years have massively reduced staff while investing in artificial intelligence, Uber largely avoided large-scale layoffs after the COVID-19 year. At the same time, this year the company has already implemented targeted cuts in customer support and the human resources department, and in May announced a slowdown in hiring.
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