In an announcement addressed to Grab employees posted yesterday (16th June), Grab's CEO and Co-Founder shared that they will be letting go of approximately 5% of its employees.
The news comes fresh after a recent announcement that Grab will limit its performance-based commission and remove other schemes as part of its cost-saving measures. As a show of solidarity, Grab has also shared earlier in April that its senior management will take a 20% pay cut.
Commenting on the lay-off, CEO and Co-Founder Anthony Tan explained the challenges that the company has noting that “Since February, we have seen the stark impact of COVID-19 on businesses globally, ours included. At the same time, it has become clear that the pandemic will likely result in a prolonged recession and we have to prepare for what may be a long recovery period. Over the past few months, we reviewed all costs, cut back on discretionary spending, and implemented pay cuts for senior management. In spite of all this, we recognize that we still have to become leaner as an organization in order to tackle the challenges of the post-pandemic economy.”
Elaborating on the decision, Grab will be “sunsetting” a couple of its non-critical projects, merging functions for improved efficiency, and “right-sizing” teams to allow the business to better manage its changing business needs. Grab has also re-assigned its staff to necessarily to meet increasing consumer demand for deliveries and this has resulted in an ideal outcome of saving many jobs and keep the lay-off to a minimal percentage at under 5%. To re-assure employees, the announcement also states that this would be the last organization-wide layoff for 2020.
In an effort to address the anxieties and extend assistance to employees who will be laid-off, Grab has detailed in its announcement several forms of support to aid affected employees in their transition. Some of these include details on severance payment, medical insurance coverage till the end of 2020, career transition and development support, as well as an option to keep the laptops to facilitate the transition.
To allow affected employees a chance to reach out to the CEO, they have also been encouraged to reach out to Tan via its organisation communication tools. The announcement closes with heartfelt gratitude from Tan, noting that “You will always be part of the Grab family.”
