Logistics leader Uber Freight confirmed Tuesday that it was forced to cut a number of jobs in order to align with its “continued commitment to drive sustainable growth.”
A source familiar with the layoffs said between 40 and 50 jobs were cut Monday. However, Chicago-based Uber Freight (NYSE: UBER) declined to disclose the exact number of employees affected or the percentage of the company’s workforce that was part of the layoffs.
“We made a strategic workforce adjustment aligned with our continued commitment to drive sustainable growth. Regrettably, this means a small reduction in force,” an Uber spokesperson said in a statement to FreightWaves. “This decision, not made lightly, optimizes the team to enhance operational efficiency and long-term success.”
One former employee told FreightWaves that he and others received their separation agreements from human resources via email around noon CST on Monday, hours before they were laid off via one-on-one Zoom calls.
“HR screwed up and sent out separation agreements and everyone was in panic mode, but the company kept telling us it was just an error in the system,” the source, who didn’t want to be identified for fear of retaliation, told FreightWaves. “Hours later, we received calendar invites to join a Zoom call about 10 minutes before we were let go.”
Uber Freight underwent a series of layoffs in 2023, including slashing around 150 jobs in its digital brokerage arm in January and as many as 50 employees in July.
In October, news that Uber Freight’s largest competitor, Seattle-based Convoy, was ceasing operations because of the “massive freight recession” rattled the digital freight brokerage industry.
One Ex-Uber Freight employee said this is the first round of layoffs that have impacted employees from legacy Transplace, which Uber Freight acquired in 2021.
“While I was more in tune with Uber Freight people, I do know some Transplace employees’ positions were impacted by the layoffs as well,” the source, who didn’t want to be identified, told FreightWaves.
The Uber Freight spokesperson declined to comment further about the layoffs Monday or confirm details about the former employees’ severance packages.
“We deeply appreciate the contributions of all team members and are providing support for those affected,” according to the company’s statement. “Our focus remains on delivering excellence to our customers and creating sustained value for our stakeholders.”
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A. Nonymous
I’m Legacy Transplace. Been here over a decade. We all cringed when Uber Freight bought our company. Legacy Uber Freight would have been gone before Convoy, if not for our solid Legacy Transplace transportation management accounts. These Silicon Valley startup nerds have no idea what they’re doing and are burning through Transportation Management money to support the Digital Brokerage and dreams of driverless trucks and recyclable plastic pallets. There have been many “retirements” at the VP, and other management levels, since the Uber Freight takeover. The loss of Frank McGuigan shortly after finalizing the takeover was a bad omen for the rest of us in Transportation Management. The mismanagement of this latest round of layoffs, and the lack of any public or employee relations effort by Uber Freight speaks volumes.
Experienced Freighter
Uber freight is a joke! It’s a beautiful office full of new graduates with playgrounds of ideas and no experience. Management is nothing but graduates with no direction and no leadership experience. I departed ways last year after working for the company for over 5 years. My role was switched a number of times, we were forced to sign new contracts or your role would be terminated. Along with your roles being switched the company does not support substantial training which allows workers to be their best. Learn the role on your own or you will be fired. I can see this company having quarterly layoffs due to the lack of direction and leadership.
Kimberly A Souza
Are any of the layoffs in the NW Arkansas office?
Rex Comus
The “massive freight recession” is a poor and transparent excuse to cover an absurd business strategy.
Uber and Convoy delusionally assumed they could stroll into the trucking industry and capture market share at record rates, building business models based on tech-style growth rates simply because they had tech backgrounds. You can almost see the smirks on their zoom calls as they mocked the “legacy trucking industry.”
It was and still is a fool’s errand. They should have stuck to being suppliers to the industry instead of trying to be the industry. Joke is on them.
Poof
I keep hearing news of a “big freight recession” but that seems to be coming from those with models solely focused on numbers going up. Carriers who have stuck to their niche are teeming with freight opportunities right now. Has it slowed down? Sure. Is it the end of the world? No, not at all. Feels like the debt spending of the late 2010s has finally caught up with some companies. For some companies, it means layoffs to stabilize. For others who overextended and/or had no clear purpose, it’s the end of the road.
I am glad I left Uber when I did. Saw the writing on the wall and pursued other opportunities in a search for stability.
Coop
The government needs to step in and save the trucking companies around the united state or we are going to be in big trouble.
Anon
Freightwaves gets more information on layoffs than Uber Freight employees do. Employees have not received any communications from leadership regarding the layoffs or mistakenly sent emails. It’s disappointing, but not surprising that communications are only done for PR. Maybe the person who used to write employee communication emails got laid off last January or July or was offered a voluntary severance package in October.
Discardi
Losing money constantly and $2b spent on Transplace. This is round one. This is the first big layoff news of 2024. We will see more. Broken models are being exposed.