Mass layoffs at California-based Uber as thousands of jobs wiped out — and it's bad news for Gen Z

California-based Uber has announced a major organizational restructuring, revealing plans to eliminate 10% of its global workforce, impacting approximately 3,300 employees. The cuts will hit a company with roughly 36,600 employees worldwide, including about 14,600 in the US, according to Uber’s latest regulatory filing. Drivers and couriers who use the Uber platform are not counted among those employees and are not part of the layoffs.

Uber, headquartered in San Francisco, is laying off thousands of jobs.

As part of this strategic pivot, the San Francisco-based ride-hailing giant is scaling back its remote work policy.

The shakeup could be felt particularly hard in Uber’s home state—where the company has a massive footprint. Uber says roughly a third of its global workforce is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, home to its headquarters and offices in San Francisco and Sunnyvale.

In a memo shared on the company’s website, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said: “We are removing layers, simplifying team structures, refining our global location strategy, and focusing our people and investments against the biggest opportunities ahead of us.”

But the overhaul isn’t just about jobs.

As part of the strategic pivot, the San Francisco-based ride-hailing giant is significantly scaling back its remote work policy—another blow to Gen Z workers, who have come to cherish flexibility over five days behind an office desk.

“Global teams will be concentrated in our largest global hubs, NY and SF; regional teams in designated regional hubs; local teams in country hubs; and tech teams in tech hubs,” Khosrowshahi wrote.

Moving forward, Uber expects only about 1% of its workforce to remain fully remote, meaning thousands of employees accustomed to working from home could instead find themselves tethered to one of the company’s designated hubs.

The move puts Uber firmly among the major companies tightening the screws on pandemic-era workplace flexibility, with younger workers particularly likely to feel the shift.

Investors, meanwhile, appeared to like what they saw. Uber’s stock jumped 2.4% on Wednesday morning following the announcement.