Uber is set to cut around 3,300 corporate jobs as part of a major restructuring process that will trim its global workforce by approximately 10 per cent.
In a corporate message sent to staff members on Wednesday, chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi explained that eliminating layers of management and merging operational teams would help to create a “simpler and faster” business.
The US-based ride-hailing app, which has its global head office in San Francisco, did not outline precisely how many corporate positions would be affected in each location where it operates, including its UK office based in London.
While affected employees have already been notified of the decision, the firm noted that staff in some countries will have to follow specific local processes.
The shake-up, which will ultimately reduce the size of the company’s overall workforce by about 10 per cent, was first reported by Bloomberg.
Mr Khosrowshahi said in his message that Uber had been growing in the past five years and the business was performing well.
“But that growth has also brought complexity: more layers, more co-ordination, more fragmented ownership, and in some cases structures that made sense when businesses were smaller but no longer serve us well at our current scale,” he said.
“The changes we’re making today are designed to do two things: make Uber simpler and faster, and create more capacity to invest in our future.”
Mr Khosrowshahi laid out organisational changes that Uber is making including combining operational and tech teams, and reducing the number of “micro-teams” – where one or two employees report to a single manager – by nearly 50%.
The number of employees who sit more than seven layers from the chief executive has also been cut by 20%, according to the boss.
“The decisions we’re making today are difficult, but they will help us build an even stronger Uber for the years ahead,” Mr Khosrowshahi said.
Uber is also asking the majority of its staff that work remotely to come into an office, meaning less than around 1% of employees will be remote.
It said it will reinforce a hybrid work policy which require three days a week in the office.
Uber is preparing to launch self-driving taxis for the first time on UK roads after partnering with robotaxi business Wayve and being granted approval by Transport for London last month.
The rollout, planned for this year, is expected to be delayed due to a lack of permit approval by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) and operational guidelines from Transport for London (TfL).