Bad pass at Uber. Faced with the fall in VTC trips almost everywhere in the world because of the pandemic, the sector leader has decided to lay off around a quarter of its employees and drastically reduce all expenses not falling within its core business.
The American group had already announced the loss of 3,700 jobs in early May. Dismissals which seem to have been announced by videoconference to thousands of employees via the Zoom application, as revealed by the Daily Mail.
A video, a priori published on social networks by one of the employees concerned, revealed this unusual method in the eyes of the world. And moved many Internet users who shared the extract en masse. “I know it’s incredibly difficult to hear. Nobody wants to be called like that. We had to do it in a way that allowed us to notify you as quickly as possible so that you did not hear any rumors about it, “explains by videoconference the director of the customer service department of Uber, with an air empathetic. And to add, during these 3 short minutes: “I know it’s extremely hard to hear, no one wants to be on a video call like this. “
This Monday, the group also announced that it would lay off 3000 additional employees. These new layoffs are spread across most of the group’s divisions and across all regions of the world. They do not concern drivers, who are not considered by Uber to be employees.
The company is being hit hard by the travel restriction and containment measures taken by various governments to stem the Covid-19 pandemic. Uber has tried to reassure its customers by imposing health safety measures such as the obligation to wear a mask in the vehicle. And some drivers have installed plastic screens between the front and rear seats.
80% fewer passengers
This is not always enough to convince regular users, who are invited for several weeks to limit contact with other people, to work from home and not to go out at night. The group saw the number of passenger transports drop by 80% in April.
“Given the dramatic impact of the pandemic and the unpredictable nature of any possible recovery, we are focusing our efforts on our main mobility and delivery platforms, and are resizing our business to match the realities of our business” , comments the general manager of the company Dara Khosrowshahi.
