Uber tightens work-from-home rules, asks remote employees to relocate or leave
Uber is sharply scaling back work-from-home flexibility, with fully remote roles set to account for only around 1% of its global workforce as the company tightens its return-to-office policy. Employees who do not live near designated office hubs are broadly expected to relocate or leave the company.
The policy shift comes alongside one of Uber’s biggest rounds of job cuts since the pandemic, with the company eliminating around 3,300 corporate positions, or roughly 10% of its global corporate workforce, according to NDTV.
Remote work sharply curtailed
Under the new workplace model, Uber will organise employees around a limited number of designated hubs. Its two largest offices in New York and San Francisco will serve as “global” hubs, alongside regional, country and technology hubs for other teams.
The company will also more strictly enforce its existing hybrid work policy, which requires employees to be in the office three days a week.
For employees currently working remotely and living away from these designated hubs, the change could mean relocating closer to an office or exiting the company.
The move marks a significant reversal from the work-from-anywhere flexibility that became more common across the technology sector during the pandemic.
Why Uber is changing its model
In an internal memo later published on the company’s website, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the changes are based on lessons from the pandemic era, with Uber finding that teams collaborate and solve problems more effectively through face-to-face interaction.
The company is also restructuring its organisation by removing layers of management and simplifying how teams operate.
Uber is reportedly planning to halve the number of “micro-teams”, where a manager has only one or two direct reports, as part of the effort to streamline decision-making and give employees clearer ownership.
Khosrowshahi has said the broader restructuring is intended to make the organisation “simpler and faster” and free up resources for investment in autonomous vehicles.
Layoffs add pressure
The return-to-office shift comes as Uber cuts around 3,300 corporate jobs globally. Drivers and couriers working on Uber’s platform are not included in the reduction.
The company has continued to grow despite the restructuring, with revenue rising around 18% year-on-year in 2025 to approximately $52 billion. However, growth has moderated into 2026.
Uber has also reduced part of its customer-support workforce and slowed hiring as it increases its use of automation and artificial intelligence.
A broader remote work reversal
Uber’s decision reflects a wider shift among technology companies that have increasingly moved away from pandemic-era remote work arrangements.
Commenting on the development, Abhishek Bhilwaria, partner at BhilwariaFinserv, told NDTV, “The layoffs and the new location policy suggest Uber is trying to shed a flatter, more distributed way of working that took hold during the pandemic in favour of a leaner, more centralised structure built around a handful of large offices.
“For thousands of remaining employees, the practical choice is now stark: move closer to a hub city, accept a stricter in-office routine, or consider their options outside the company.”
For Uber employees, the policy effectively makes location a more significant condition of employment, as the company moves towards a much smaller remote workforce and a more office-centric operating model.
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