Uber cuts 23% of HR, People division as new president takes over
Uber Technologies will cut 23% of jobs in a division that includes human resources, recruiting, workplace facilities and culture, as part of a push to simplify its team structure, the ride-sharing company’s newly appointed president, Jill Hazelbaker, said.
The cuts at the People and Places division, many of which are senior roles, represent less than 1% of Uber’s 34,000 employees worldwide, according to a company spokesperson. Its approximately 10 million drivers are mostly classified separately as independent contractors.
HR employees who were previously approved to work remotely are also being asked to return to the office to comply with the three-day-a-week office mandate that went into effect last June.
Why now?
Uber shares pared initial losses Wednesday morning following the news, falling 0.6% to $71.21 as of 10:30 a.m. in New York.
The changes come three weeks after Hazelbaker, a longtime executive who oversaw marketing, policy and communications, was promoted to the expanded role of president and chief corporate affairs officer. The new role adds Uber’s safety operations and People and Places organization to its remit following the departure of respective leaders from those functions this year.
“As we have grown, parts of the organization have become very complex and fragmented, with overlapping responsibilities, unclear ownership, and teams operating far removed from the businesses and partners they support,” Hazelbaker wrote in a memo to affected teams Wednesday. he wrote.
Not an AI-related layoff
A spokesperson said Wednesday’s outages were unrelated to AI.
Uber differentiated itself from other technology companies that carried out mass layoffs in the name of artificial intelligence-focused investment and efficiency; instead, it cut back in a more targeted way to reduce costs. Currently hiring for more than 800 positions, including commercializing robotaxi. Last month, he said hiring would slow down due to internal use of artificial intelligence.
“These changes are necessary to maximize the effectiveness of the People team and the tremendous potential ahead of us,” Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi said in a separate memo to leaders at the company.
Uber’s previous cuts in 2023 targeted its recruiting team as well as its online grocery subsidiary Cornershop.
