Uber said today, that it will be cutting 600 jobs in India, accounting for almost 25% of its total workforce in the country. The job cuts are a part of the 6700 odd layoffs that the company has announced over the course of past one month. India is Uber’s largest market after the United States.
The lay offs are, as is common knowledge, induced by the business decline that coronavirus has brought in to the ride-hailing industry. In a statement, Pradeep Parameswaran, President of Uber India and Asia said, “The impact of Covid-19 and the unpredictable nature of the recovery has left Uber IndiaSA with no choice but to reduce the size of its workforce. Around 600 full time positions across driver and rider support, as well as other functions, are being impacted. These reductions are part of previously announced global job cuts this month,”
The job cuts will primarily be happening around driver and customer support, since those jobs have probably become the most redundant due to standstill business. Uber has not announced any lay offs from its technology or middle leadership positions, at least for now.
In terms of benefits, each laid off employee will receive a minimum 10 weeks payout, medical insurance coverage for the next six months and outplacement support. The employees would also be allowed to retain their laptops and given the option to join the Uber talent directory.
Similarly large scale layoffs were announced by Uber’s India competitior Ola last week. The ride hailing company announced laying off, of 1400 employees from across various business functions. Similar to Uber, Ola too mentioned that its revenues have crashed to sub-optimal levels making it unsustainable for it to keep such a large workforce.
Just last week, Uber had announced job cuts to the tune of an additional 3000, taking the total global job cuts to 6700. That represents 25% of its global workforce. The global mobility service suffered a massive 80% drop in ride bookings amid the coronavirus outbreak. Uber also made announced closing down of 40% of its greenlight locations along with 45 offices.
