Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told outraged staffers “it is what it is” during a heated meeting as they pushed back on a stricter return-to-office policy and additional sabbatical requirements.
The ride-share giant last week raised its in-office requirement to three days a week, up from two, and took remote work approval away from some staffers, according to CNBC.
It also raised the requirement for its popular paid monthlong sabbatical benefit from five years at the company to eight, according to the report.
“If you’re here for a sabbatical and this change causes you to change your mind, it is what it is,” Khosrowshahi told angry employees at an all-hands meeting on April 29, according to audio and correspondence obtained by CNBC.
“I’m sorry about that. The reason we want you to be here is the impact on the company. The learning here. We recognize some of these changes are going to be unpopular with folks. This is a risk we decided to take,” he continued, as staffers launched questions and criticism his way.
It’s the latest rollback of flashy benefits and perks, as well as remote work approval, at major Silicon Valley firms, echoing moves from Google and Salesforce.
“It’s hardly a surprise that not everyone was thrilled about changes to remote work and sabbatical policies,” the company told CNBC in a statement. “But the job of leadership is to do what’s in the best interest of our customers and shareholders.”
Uber did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
After Uber revealed the changes in a memo to staffers last week, employees “invaded” the company’s internal Slido forum with questions about the rollback, Khosrowshahi said at the start of the meeting.
“How is five years of service not a tenured employee? Especially when burnout is rampant in the org,” an employee asked in a highly rated comment, adding that they had already paid for a trip for their upcoming sabbatical.
Khosrowshahi reiterated that employees should be more interested in their impact on Uber than company benefits.
Other employees asked whether the policy changes were a way of pushing staffers to quit.
“It has nothing to do in terms of a need to drive attrition or layoffs,” Khosrowshahi said. “None of that is planned. The business is operating really, really well. But listen, good isn’t good enough for us. We have to be great as a company.”
After the tense meeting, Uber reprimanded some employees for crossing “the line into unprofessional and disrespectful” with their comments.
“That’s not OK, and we will be speaking with the employees who made them,” Uber’s chief people officer, Nikki Krishnamurthy, wrote in a memo, according to CNBC.
“Through good times and bad, we are open with each other. Yet when we see behavior like this, it makes it harder to continue being open in the same way,” Krishnamurthy added.
Many employees took issue with Uber’s remote work reversal, after establishing Tuesdays and Thursdays as its “anchor days” in 2022.
Most employees, except those with exemptions, had to spend at least half of their work time in the company’s office on these two days, and the rest of the week could be spent working remotely, the company said at the time.
Several staffers questioned the logistics of a pivot to a full three days in office – complaining that there aren’t enough meeting rooms as it is.
Krishnamurthy said Uber is adding 700,000 square feet of office space between its San Francisco Mission Bay and Seattle offices, to go toward more meeting rooms and cafeterias. It will be in construction through 2026, she said.
Khosrowshahi told employees that the company will be tracking attendance.
