Uber lays off 400 workers to streamline its services

Kenneth Afor with agency report

The world’s leading transport mobility tech firm, Uber on Tuesday, laid off 400 engineering and product staff from its 27,000 global workforce. The lay off will be the firm’s second job cut since May 2019.

About 80 percent of the lay off was from the United States (US) while the firm’s food delivery service; Uber Eats and its freight service remained unchanged.

In a statement, Uber said that the layoff was necessary to centralize control and remain competitive in the business.

“Previously, to meet the demands of a hypergrowth start-up, we hired rapidly and in a decentralized way. While this worked for Uber in the past, now that we have over 27,000 full-time employees in cities around the world, we need to shift how we design our organizations: lean, exceptionally high-performing teams, with clear mandates and the ability to execute faster than our competitors,” the company said.

After a $5.24 billion loss in the third quarter, investors are still puzzled about when will profit start rolling in for the firm.

Uber’s shares price on Tuesday rose by 4 percent at $33.51, far below the $45 Initial Public Offer (IPO) price on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

A news wire coy said that the job cut came as a result of business needs, eliminating duplicate roles and an individual’s performance ratings.

However, Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive, Uber said the firm must take drastic measures to be more efficient than it has ever been.

“Uber must ship more quickly and operate more effectively and efficiently than we are today. We are not doing this for Wall Street. We are doing this for Uber,” said Khosrowshahi.

“It is critical we get our edge back and continually push ourselves to do better. As a leadership team, we have been too slow to see inefficiencies and course-correct, and that’s on us,” Khosrowshahi added.