SINGAPORE — Grab is laying off about 360 of its employees, or just under 5 per cent of its workforce, as the Covid-19 pandemic has hammered its business. 

In a note to employees published online on Tuesday (June 16), Mr Anthony Tan, the chief executive officer of the technology firm, warned that the company was headed for "what may be a long recovery", but added that this would be the last organisation-wide layoff this year.

“I am confident as we execute against our refreshed plans to meet our targets, we will not have to go through this painful exercise again in the foreseeable future,” he said. 

He added that Grab did not come to this decision lightly. 

“We tried everything possible to avoid this, but had to accept that the difficult cuts we are making today are required, because millions depend on us for a living in this new normal,” he said.

Mr Tan said that since February, Grab had seen the “stark impact” of Covid-19 on its business. 

“It has become clear that the pandemic will likely result in a prolonged recession and we have to prepare for what may be a long recovery period,” he said. 

Grab has over the past few months reviewed all costs and cut back on discretionary spending, he added.

In March, Grab said its senior leaders would take a pay cut of up to 20 per cent. In April, as its revenues continued to fall, the next highest level of Grab leaders followed suit with a 20 per cent pay cut, while its employees were encouraged to take voluntary no-pay leave. 

“In spite of all this, we recognise that we still have to become a leaner organisation in order to tackle the challenges of the post-pandemic economy,” Mr Tan said. 

Grab has taken steps towards this aim by “sunsetting some non-core projects” as well as redeploying Grab drivers to meet increased demand for deliveries, among other measures, he noted. 

“We were able to save many jobs through this redeployment of resources and it helped to limit the scope of the reduction exercise to just under 5 per cent,” he said. 

TODAY understands that the retrenchments were made across the region, with Grab operating in Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. It was not mentioned how many in Singapore were let go. 

Mr Tan said in the note that affected employees would have received an email by 1pm on Tuesday with “guidance on next steps”. 

Grab said it would be supporting retrenched employees by providing them with severance payment of at least half a month for every six months of completed service, and an enhanced separation payment of about 1.5 months of salary as “additional assistance during this Covid-19 crisis” and bonus for work done this year.

It will also provide them with medical insurance coverage until the end of the year, along with career transition and development support, among other forms of help.