Uber cuts 23% of people division as new president takes charge

UBER Technologies said on Wednesday (Jun 3) that it is cutting 23 per cent of jobs in a division that includes human resources, recruitment, workplace facilities and culture.

This comes as part of a move by the ride-share company’s newly promoted president, Jill Hazelbaker, to simplify team structure.

The cuts to the People and Places division, many of which are senior roles, represent less than 1 per cent of Uber’s 34,000 employees around the world, a company spokesperson said. The company has about 10 million drivers, most of whom are classified separately as independent contractors.

HR employees who had previously been approved to work remotely are also being asked to return to the office to comply with a three-day-a-week office mandate that went into effect last June.

The changes come three weeks after Hazelbaker, a long-time 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 the People and Places organisation to her remit, following the departures of the respective leaders of those functions this year.

“As we’ve grown, parts of the organisation have become too complex and fragmented, with overlapping responsibilities, unclear ownership and teams operating too far from the businesses and partners they support,” Hazelbaker wrote in a memo to affected teams on Wednesday.

A spokesperson said that the cuts are unrelated to artificial intelligence.

Uber has differed from other tech companies conducting mass layoffs in the name of AI-driven investment and efficiencies, instead cutting in a more targeted way to trim costs. It is still hiring for more than 800 roles, including for commercialising robotaxis.

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The company said last month that it would slow hiring due to internal use of AI.

“These changes are necessary to maximise the effectiveness of the people team and the enormous potential ahead of us,” CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a separate memo to leaders at the company.

Earlier cuts by Uber in 2023 also targeted the recruiting team, as well as online grocery subsidiary Cornershop. BLOOMBERG