Uber Cuts 10% of Corporate Workforce in Restructuring
Uber announced plans to reduce its corporate workforce by about 10%, eliminating roughly 3,300 positions as part of a broader effort to simplify its organizational structure. The cuts primarily affect management, coordination, customer service, and human resources roles, following earlier reductions during the year.
In a memo to employees, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company has expanded significantly over the past five years, nearly tripling its revenue while entering new businesses and reaching more customers and workers. He said that growth also created additional layers of management, overlapping responsibilities, fragmented ownership, and slower decision-making.
The restructuring is intended to reduce those complications. Uber has broadened managers’ responsibilities, cut the number of employees working seven or more levels below the CEO by 20%, and reduced by nearly half the number of teams with only one or two direct reports. The company is also combining some operations, including separate delivery teams serving restaurants, retailers, and direct-delivery customers.
Uber said the savings generated by the changes will be directed toward growth, innovation, driver and courier investments, and autonomous-vehicle technology. The company did not cite artificial intelligence as a reason for this round of layoffs, although it previously connected AI adoption to cuts in customer service positions.
The announcement also included changes to workplace policy. Most corporate employees will be expected to work from an office at least three days each week, and fewer than 1% will remain fully remote. Teams will increasingly be concentrated in major hubs, including San Francisco and New York.
Khosrowshahi said affected employees had been notified, except where local laws require different procedures. He described the layoffs as organizational rather than performance-based and said Uber chose one large restructuring instead of a series of smaller changes. The move comes despite recent financial results that have generally exceeded analysts’ expectations.