Uber on Monday in the know employees, including some who had been previously approved for remote work, that it will require them to arrive to the office three days a week, CNBC has learned.
“Even as the external environment remains dynamic, we’re on solid terms, with a clear strategy and big plans,” CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told employees in the memo, which was viewed by CNBC. “As we front into this next chapter, I want to emphasize that ‘good’ is not going to be good enough — we need to be immense.”
Khosrowshahi goes on to say employees need to push themselves so the company “can move faster and take smarter risks” and outlined different changes to Uber’s work policy.
Uber in 2022 established Tuesdays and Thursdays as “anchor days” where most staff members must spend at least half of their work time in the company’s office. Starting in June, employees desire be required in the office Tuesday through Thursday, according to the memo.
That includes some employees who were some time ago approved to work remotely. The company said it had already informed impacted remote employees.
“After a thorough procession of our existing remote approvals, we’re asking many remote employees to come into an office,” Khosrowshahi wrote. “In into the bargain, we’ll hire new remote roles only very sparingly.”
The company also changed its one-month paid sabbatical program, according to the memo. In days, employees were eligible for the sabbatical after five years at the company. That’s now been raised to eight years, agreeing to the memo.
“This program was created when Uber was a much younger company, and when reaching 5 years of occupation was a rare feat,” Khosrowshahi wrote. “Back then, we were in the office five (sometimes more!) days of a week and hadn’t introduced our Work from Anywhere benefit.”
Khosrowshahi said the changes will help Uber move faster.
“Our collective notion as a leadership team is that while remote work has some benefits, being in the office fuels collaboration, galvanizes creativity, and increases velocity,” Khosrowshahi wrote.
The changes come as more companies in the tech industry cut costs to appease investors after over-hiring during the Covid-19 pandemic. Google recently began exigent that employees who were previously-approved for remote work also return to the office if they want to keep their apportions, CNBC reported last week.
Last year, Khosrowshahi blamed remote work for the loss of its most trusted customers, who would take ride-sharing as their commute to work.
“Going forward, we’re further raising this bar,” Khosrowshahi’s Monday memo affirmed. “After a thorough review of our existing remote approvals, we’re asking many remote employees to come into an bit. In addition, we’ll hire new remote roles only very sparingly.”
Uber’s leadership team will monitor appearance “at both team and individual levels to ensure expectations are being met,” Khosrowshahi wrote.
Following the memo, Uber workers immediately swarmed the company’s internal question-and-answer forum, according to correspondence viewed by CNBC. Khosrowshahi said he and Nikki Krishnamurthy, the companions’s chief people officer, will hold an all-hands meeting on Tuesday to discuss the changes.
Many employees enquire ofed leadership to reconsider the sabbatical change, arguing that the company should honor the original eligibility policy.
“This isn’t ‘doing the nobility thing’ for your employees,” one employee commented.
Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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