After Firing Over 1000 People, Lyft Asks Employees To Return to Office

A day after popular ride-hailing firm Lyft laid off more than 1,000 employees or 26% of its workforce, new CEO David Risher has asked the remaining workers to return to the office, Fortune reported. On Friday, Mr Risher, who joined the company on April 17, told employees in a meeting that they would be required to come back into the office at least three days a week.

Employees will be required to come to the office on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, with Tuesdays recommended, beginning after Labour Day, reported New York Times.

''Things just move faster when you're face to face. There's a real feeling of satisfaction that comes from working together at a whiteboard on a problem,'' Mr Risher said. He added that remote work in the tech industry had come at a cost, leading to isolation and eroding culture. 

However, it was only last year that the company boasted about its ''fully flexible workplace.'' The company in a blog post, announced that the ''existing team members will now have the choice of where to live and where to work.''

''Lyft employees can work from the office, at home, or any combination of the two. We also believe in and support an extraordinary office experience that brings people together intentionally and organically, without set days or obligations,'' the blog read.

Notably, Lyft announced in March that Mr Risher, a former Amazon and Microsoft executive who served on Lyft's board, would take over for John Zimmer and Logan Green, the company's founders. A week into his tenure, he announced that it will be laying off a significant number of employees. 

He said, ''I'm confirming that we will significantly reduce the size of the team as part of a restructuring to focus on better meeting the needs of riders and drivers.''

Lyft will also eliminate more than 250 open positions and incur about $41 million to $47 million in costs related to severance and employee benefits in the second quarter, it said in an exchange filing, as per a Reuters report.

The money saved from job cuts will be used to support "service-level improvements" for riders and drivers, Lyft said, promising to offer more details in its first-quarter earnings call on May 4. This is the second round of job cuts by Lyft, which faces competition from bigger rival Uber.

The company previously reduced its headcount in November, cutting 700 jobs, or about 13% of the workforce.

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