Uber fires 3,500 customer service workers
Thousands of Uber employees learned of his layoff through a three-minute Zoom call last week.
The trucking company informed 3,500 people who worked in customer service and recruiting across the country that it would be their last day working for Uber on the video call.
Uber’s Ruffin Chaveleau was tasked with breaking the news that the company was ‘cutting’ thousands of jobs. Chaveleau runs Uber’s Phoenix Center of Excellence, the term the company uses to describe its customer service office.
Chevaleau told staff: ‘Our travel business has been cut by more than half. There is not enough work for many customer service employees. As a result, we are eliminating 3,500 customer service positions.
‘Your function is affected and today will be your last day of work with Uber. You will remain on the payroll until the date indicated on your severance package.
Chaveleau’s voice cracked when he told employees that “nobody wants to be on a call like this.”
‘I know this is incredibly difficult to hear. Nobody wants to be on a call like this. With everyone on the remote and a change of this magnitude, we had to do this in a way that would allow us to tell him as quickly as possible so he wouldn’t hear it from the rumor mill, Chaveleau said.
“I also wanted to deliver this news in person and just take a brief moment to thank you for your contributions to Uber.”
This wasn’t the first time Chaveleau had to tell Uber employees that they were out of work.
In February, the executive was tasked with informing 80 employees that they were losing their jobs when Uber closed its Los Angeles customer service office.
Uber fires 3,500 workers
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