Ride-hailing services provide Grab announced a plan to lay off 360 employees across Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its operations.
“It is with heavy heart that I share with you today that we will be letting go about 360 Grabbers, or just under 5 percent of our employees,” Grab chief executive and co-founder Anthony Tan said in a letter to employees.
“We understand this news will cause anxiety and dread. Please know that we did not come to this decision lightly. We tried everything possible to avoid this but had to accept that the difficult cuts we are making today are required, because millions depend on us for a living in this new normal,” he said.
Grab Philippines public relations manager Arvi Lopez said the announcement would also cover the Philippines. “The Philippines is affected by this as well. However, we cannot disclose how many impacted Grabbers are from the Philippines,” he said.
“We tried to avoid this outcome, as this is a painful and difficult decision for the organization. We have done everything we can to try and avoid this outcome and did not come to it lightly,” Lopez said.
“Likewise, the number of impacted Grabbers are just under 5 percent, and this is because we were able to successfully execute on our cost-saving measures and also redeploy staff to our delivery businesses where we are rapidly expanding,” he said.
Tan said that Grab operations had been affected by COVID-19 since February, and “the pandemic will likely result in a prolonged recession and we have to prepare for what may be a long recovery period.”
“Over the past few months, we reviewed all costs, cut back on discretionary spending, and implemented pay cuts for senior management,” Tan said.
“In spite of all this, we recognize that we still have to become leaner as an organization in order to tackle the challenges of the post-pandemic economy,” the Grab co-founder said.
Tan said that despite the challenges, he was expecting a bullish business outlook for Grab and would focus on adapting core verticals such as ride-hailing, deliveries, payments and financial services to address the challenges and opportunities of the “new normal”.
“At the same time, we will expand support for small businesses by enriching our merchant service offerings. We believe these steps will steady us on the path towards sustainability,” he said.
“We are also doubling-down on our delivery verticals and have redeployed Grabbers to meet the increased customer demand for deliveries,” Tan said.
