Grab is laying off around 5% of its workforce due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. This was revealed by Anthony Tan, the CEO and Co-Founder of Grab in a note to employees earlier today in which has also been reproduced on its official website.
In the announcement, Anthony stated the company has been reviewing the costs of its operation for the past few months in anticipation for the recession that could be caused by the pandemic. Despite having cut back on spending and impose pay cuts on senior management, the company still felt that it needs to be a much leaner organization.
Aside from the layoff, Grab is planning to end selected non-core projects while merging functions and resizing teams in the name of efficiency. The company will also increase its efforts in the delivery segment by redeploying its employees to manage the increased demand for deliveries.
While around 360 Grab employees are affected by this layoff, Anthony didn’t reveal if it involved Grab Malaysia as well. However, since it was noted that this will be “the last organization-wide layoff this year” and “local statutory guidelines” will be taken into account for the severance payment process, it seems likely that this layoff affects all Grab’s office throughout the region in some way or another.
