A few days back we learnt that Grab had acquired Uber’s Southeast Asia business. Then, following the acquisition, a recent video revealed that Uber staff in Singapore were asked to leave the office in two hours upon confirmation of the news.
The video that went viral yesterday (26 March 2018) was uploaded by a Twitter user who claimed that the Uber employees were given a two-hour notice to leave and were also told that they were free to look for a different job. The post further added that a compensation package wasn’t offered and that no one from Grab had reached out to them yet. That’s sad.
However, more recently, Grab has refuted all the claims by the netizen, reported Channel NewsAsia.
Source: Lowyat.net & Fortune
According to Ong Chin Yin, Grab’s head of people, the company hasn’t been able to reach out to the employees because they don’t have their email addresses yet.
“We wanted to reach out to them today, but were not able to do so today unfortunately,” she said.
Besides that, they also said that they will absorb all of Uber’s 500-plus employees across Southeast Asia. Including Malaysian staff too!
However, in the meantime, all of these employees have been placed on paid leave for the time being till they figure things out.
“We are committed to finding a permanent home for them,” said Ong to Channel NewsAsia.
[arve url=”https://www.linkedin.com/embed/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6384022262227533824″ /]
Source: LinkedIn
To avoid further confusion, Grab has organised a town hall meeting on Tuesday (27 March 2018) at 4.30pm for the affected Uber staff.
Ong was also asked whether there was a communication breakdown between Uber and Grab; to which Ong replied that she didn’t want to speculate.
Source: Today
“It’s not an easy time… we can understand. It’s a time of transition for us and Uber. We are trying our best to use channels to reach out (to those affected) as soon as possible and be supportive,” she said.
Finally, Ong added that Grab will organise Uber employees into teams similar to while they were in Uber and also offer them terms that are “substantially similar packaged”. But if an employee doesn’t take up the offer, Grab will work out another compensation package with them.
Thus, with that said, it’s time we bid goodbye to Uber and enjoy its latest promo codes until April 2018. Au revoir, Uber!
Also read: Uber SG Staff Allegedly Asked to Leave Building in 2 Hours After Grab Acquisition Confirmed
