Grab Philippines said Monday the regional restructuring exercise of its parent firm has no impact on its commitment to the government to provide livelihood opportunities to 500,000 Filipinos.
“The Philippines has always been an important market for Grab. We remain steadfast in our promise to create 500,000 livelihood opportunities in the Philippines and will continue to make progress on this by creating meaningful opportunities for everyday Filipinos and small businesses to earn a livelihood on our platform, whether as a driver-partner, delivery partner, or merchant partner,” ” Grab Philippines country head Grace Vera-Cruz said.
“Grab is committed to equipping them with tools, training, and technology to be more productive,” she said.
The company said that since it was launched in the Philippines in 2012, the platform had created income opportunities for millions of micro-entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises.
Grab co-founder and chief executive Anthony Tan in his recent courtesy call on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., expressed Grab’s intention to generate 500,000 livelihood opportunities for Filipinos.
“The restructuring exercise neither changes our investment commitment to the government, nor does it affect our ability to ably serve Filipinos. We are accelerating our efforts to ensure that this will come to fruition, as we unlock further economic empowerment through our robust ecosystem,” Vera Cruz said.
Tan recently announced in a letter that Grab is letting go of 1,000 of employees, also called Grabbers, across the different markets in Southeast Asia to combine its scale with agile execution and cost leadership. This, in turn, allows Grab to sustainably offer even more affordable services and serve its drivers and merchant partners better.
Grab said to ensure those affected by the restructuring program would be adequately compensated, it would provide them with financial, professional and medical support.
These include the provision of severance payment of half a month for every six months of completed service, or based on local statutory guidelines, whichever is higher, as well as goodwill payment of an ex-gratia amount determined by Grab for forgone target bonus and equity.
Grabbers will also be entitled to the encashment of unused accrued annual leave, GrabFlex credits and maternity or paternity leaves. They are also entitled to a completion bonus for those who are required to provide transition support, repatriation support and an option to keep their pre-assigned laptops.
“We are aware that change may be incredibly challenging and we are prioritizing the welfare of the Grabbers who were affected by the restructuring exercise. We want to make sure that they have the runway during their professional transition,” Vera-Cruz said.
Grab also extended their medical insurance coverage until the end of this year, where possible, subject to local insurance terms.
It said to help them transition to their professional careers, Grab is providing development support in the form of free one-year access to LinkedIn Premium subscription and LinkedIn Learning and access to sessions with a professional coach.
