Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi recently announced significant changes to the company’s in-office requirements and employee benefits during a heated all-hands meeting on April 29. Beginning this June, Uber will mandate that staff return to the office at least three days a week. This is an increase from the prior two-day requirement established in 2022. This decision set off employee backlash that found employees taking their concerns face to face with Khosrowshahi in an all-hands meeting.
In his remarks, Khosrowshahi told employees, “If you’re here for a sabbatical and this change causes you to change your mind, it is what it is. I’m sorry about that.” This particular nugget addresses head-on the cynics who are already rolling their eyes at the new policy. It reflects something much deeper within the company as we go through our own internal transformational workplace culture shifts.
On the same day, April 28, Uber launched its plan to increase in-office attendance. Khosrowshahi emphasized this part of the deal as key in encouraging partnership and keeping work on track. “The Slido essentially has been invaded by questions about the changes we’ve made,” he noted, acknowledging the backlash and concerns raised by employees.
Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer Nikki Krishnamurthy discussed the environment. She issued a clarion call for more office space. To accommodate the increased attendance, Uber plans to add 700,000 square feet of office space between its San Francisco Mission Bay and Seattle offices. This large-scale expansion should add as much as one hundred more meeting rooms and a dozen or more cafeterias, with construction expected to last into 2026.
Krishnamurthy defended the company’s decision to enhance its office environment by stating, “Our business also exists in the real world, on the streets of thousands of cities, and it’s important we stay connected to the places we serve.” She made clear that these adjustments would pay off for both the company and its employees.
Throughout the meeting, Khosrowshahi was met with frank questions by employees who were worried about what all of these changes might mean. For one staffer, this represented a very important issue. Yet they wondered how five years of service doesn’t make you a tenured employee, particularly as rates of burnout in the organization continue to climb. Uber can’t just be a good business. Khosrowshahi countered that while Uber’s business is healthy, it needs to be great. “None of that is planned. The business is operating really, really well. But hey, good isn’t good enough for us.… We cannot afford to be anything but excellent as a corporation,” he continued.
He stressed the importance of having a frank conversation across the organization. “Through good times and bad, we are open with each other. Yet when we see behavior like this, it makes it harder to continue being open in the same way,” she remarked.
The implementation of “anchor days” in 2022 was one element of Uber’s plan to ensure their in-person collaboration really packed a punch. These headquarters-prescribed days help incentivize employees to return to office. Because their goal, more than anything, is to build this culture of connectedness and collaboration camaraderie amongst them all. The new requirements now require in-person attendance at least three days a week. It remains to be seen what this cultural change would mean for employee morale and productivity.
Uber is smart to invest in adapting to changing workplace dynamics. Khosrowshahi and Krishnamurthy hope that if these policy changes are made, it will set the stage for the company to have a profitable long-term future. Even as employee worries grow, their leadership team is still wholeheartedly dedicated to creating an internal atmosphere that supports creativity and teamwork.