In 2025, there appears to be no room for peace between employers and employees. Uber’s RTO policy has pushed for a three-day return to the office, even among employees approved for remote work. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi sent a very straightforward memo to employees making it clear that there was no room for negotiations on the RTO policy.
The Uber CEO’s message explained that being “good” was not good enough and the company needs to be great for it to perform up to the standards expected by the firm. Uber employees quickly expressed their dissatisfaction over the news, asking the CEO questions about the move at an all-hands meeting. Uber’s benefits policy was also changed in terms of sabbatical eligibility, so it’s no surprise that employees had a lot to say on the matter.
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Uber RTO Policy Announced: CEO Says “It Is What It Is”
Last week, Uber’s RTO policy increased the number of in-person work days from two to three days. If this wasn’t enough of a change, the policy also took back approval for full-time remote work from those who had been previously approved to work from home, according to CNBC. It is also of note that Uber isn’t giving up on remote work entirely just yet, as the CEO explained that the company might still hire for remote roles, but “sparingly.”
Uber’s RTO change will go into effect in June, which means employees have less than a month to adjust to the updated policy. In 2022, the company previously established Tuesdays and Thursdays as anchor days to bring workers in to reconnect with the team and work in the office, with the expectation of spending at least half of their work time at the organization. That will soon change.
Uber Benefits Policy on Sabbaticals Also Gets an Update
Uber’s workplace policy aside, the company also announced changes to the eligibility criteria for sabbaticals. Previously, those who spent 5 years at the company could take a one-month paid sabbatical to do what they wished without losing their jobs in the process.
Now, employees have to work for at least eight years at the organization before they can enjoy the benefits. Khosrowshahi implied that workers should be more interested in learning and impacting the company rather than what benefits they can receive. Its callous attitudes towards workers and their interests continue to widen the divide between employers and employees.
Are Five Years of Service No Longer Impressive?
In 2025, most employees will scoff at the idea of spending eight years at an organization. It’s true that this has a lot to do with the trend of job hopping as it’s the only way employees see any progression in their careers. More importantly, however, employees are often laid off or let go before they hit the eight-year mark as employee retention is no longer a critical component for employers.
Employee benefits serve as a way to attract top talent to an organization, but a benefit that takes eight years to achieve hardly serves the same purpose. For other businesses planning to follow Uber’s new benefits policy, it will be important to pause and consider how it will impact employee perception of the organization. It will also be important to understand the purpose of the benefit and why it is provided to workers.
Uber knows the employee response best as the company was taken aback by the “heated” response to the policy changes from employees. A strong reaction should not have come as a surprise.
Uber CEO’s Message: Make a Choice
It is the season of ultimatums and Uber CEO’s statement to employees was to “make a choice” about how they wanted to respond to the RTO mandate. He elaborated saying that people who have worked at Uber have “lots of opportunities everywhere,” indicating that employees could leave if remote work was truly what they wanted.
“We want them, obviously, to take the opportunity with us, to take the opportunity to learn,” Khosrowshahi told CNBC. “But this is a company where you have to work hard, we’re not going to make excuses for that, and you have to work hard together.”
The Uber CEO had a similar response to employees upset over the sabbatical policy change, “If you’re here for a sabbatical and this change causes you to change your mind, it is what it is.” Khosrowshahi admitted that Uber’s policy changes were a risk and would not be popular among employees, but it was a risk the company was willing to take.
Uber Employee Backlash: Employee Satisfaction Is No Longer a Priority
Uber’s RTO policy is comparatively tame when you consider that Amazon has asked workers to return to the office full time and Intel recently asked employees to come in four days a week. It is apparent that organizations are making a gradual but obvious move towards full-time in-person work, regardless of how employees respond to it.
Uber employees are said to have lashed out at the policy changes during the all-hands meeting, expressing their disappointment with the decisions made by leadership who are often disconnected from the workforce. The issues grew so heated that Nikki Krishnamurthy, Uber’s Chief People Officer, sent a memo to employees explaining that some of the comments during the broadcast were “unprofessional and disrespectful.”
The backlash from Uber employees is enough to tell you that workers are not happy about the company’s approach and neither are they willing to downplay this fury to appeal to their bosses. Is it best to have workers come into the office unsatisfied to this degree?
Should You Duplicate Uber’s Policies?
Let’s face it—RTO policies are not popular among employees, and it’s likely they never will be. Unless there is any appeal to bringing themselves to a stiff and uncomfortable workplace every day, a majority of workers will continue to prefer working from home. We have crossed the peak of the work-from-home era and slid straight down to demonizing it as the worst policy to allow at work, but businesses need to decide for themselves if that’s really true for them.
Depending on the organization and its workforce, there may be some genuine benefits to bringing workers into the office, but employers who want to enforce it should be able to convince workers rather than force them.
A disgruntled workforce is rarely built for productivity, and organizations that make the switch too harshly may see many leave. If a forced round of exits is the goal, things should work out just fine, but those who stay on might not be in the ideal headspace to work either. The path forward is riddled with problems but meeting employees halfway has always been the best solution.
From RTO mandates to unsteady layoffs, we cover everything that’s shaking up the world of employment. Subscribe to The HR Digest to stay up-to-date with the latest trends, case studies, and statistics leading the HR industry.