The Ride Booking Platform Careem Cuts 31% of its Workforce

Uber subsidiary Careem told that it was cutting 500+  jobs this week, presenting 31% of the company’s workforce. The statement came some hours after Uber announced it was suspending its Eats delivery business in various markets, which include the Middle East and saying goodbye to dozens of staff.

Careem, which manages ride-hailing and delivery businesses essentially in the Middle East, stated it was prioritising the protection of the company and that parent Uber resumed to trust in its business model and was committed to the particular region.

The Ride Booking Platform Careem Cuts 31% of its Workforce

Mudassir Sheikha, Chief Executive stated in a blog on Careem’s website.“As we have discussed several times in the last few weeks, the crisis brought on by Covid-19 has put our dream and future impact at significant risk,”. Sheikha, who established the company in 2012, told that the business was in decline by more than 80% and that it was “alarmingly unknown” when it would recover. He added that“In this new reality, the surest way to secure Careem for the long term is to drive towards self-sustainability within a reasonable time frame,”.

Careem did not clear how much it anticipated to accumulate from the layoffs or which category business units staff had been cut from. However, it told that tech-colleagues were protected in relative terms so it could resume investing in its products.

According to the official statement of Careem,

“Today we’ve had to ask 536 (31%) of our colleagues to leave Careem. The impact of COVID-19 on our business and industry has been severe and has forced us to change the shape and size of our organisation so that Careem can be here for the long-term – which we will.

Letting people go from Careem was a last resort. These are the people that helped build Careem and create massive change and impact for our communities across the region. We greatly value their work and dedication and sincerely hope we will be able to hire those people back once we build a sustainable basis for our future.”

For Pakistan,

As we envisioned becoming a Super App, reshaping for some of our markets was already under process, it has been further impacted by the current crisis.

The affected employees would receive a three months severance salary, a month of equity vesting, and in some cases prolonged visa and medical insurance, which include family members, until the end of this year. Furthermore, the company told that letting employees go from Careem was the last option.  These are the employees that helped establish Careem and create huge change and influence for our communities across the region.

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