Hit by the pandemic, Grab lays off 5% of its workforce

The Softbank-backed super app Grab on Tuesday announced that it will lay off 360 employees, slightly less than 5% of the total workforce.

Co-founder and CEO Anthony Tan said that, since February, COVID-19 has impacted businesses around the world, and that Grab hasn’t been spared. With an economic recession and prolonged recovery looming, the company recognized it has to become “leaner as an organization”.

“Over the past few months, we reviewed all costs, cut back on discretionary spending, and implemented pay cuts for senior management,” Tan said. Grab plans to sunset “some non-core projects,” consolidate functions, and reduce team sizes. It is also reallocating more resources to its on-demand delivery services.

Grab employees who were laid off will receive severance pay amounting to half a month for every six months of completed service, an enhanced separation payment equivalent to about 1.5 months of salary, as well as other benefits such as medical insurance coverage until the end of the year.

The pandemic also affected other players in the ride-hailing sector. Last month, Uber closed its Singapore headquarter and laid off 3,000 employees globally. Lyft was cutting 17% of its workforce at the end of April.