Ride-hailing app, Careem tells its employees to work from home indefinitely

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to take its toll, companies around the world are moving towards the ‘work from home’ strategy, with the ride-hailing app, Careem becoming one of the latest companies to announce its ‘Remote-first’ plan.

The UAE based car hiring company has told its staff to work from home indefinitely in a new 'remote-first' plan.

“Excited to announce Careem is going Remote-First!” announced Co-Founder Mudassir Sheikha in a post on Wednesday. “We believe it is the future of work, good for business and more flexible for colleagues,” added Sheikha.

Talking about the decision, Sheikha told The National, “When we see an opportunity to make a first move, to figure something out, and then inspire others, then we have to do it,” he said of the decision to shift to a "remote-first" strategy.

The UAE based subsidiary of Uber is optimistic that its ride service would rebound earlier in the year with some markets already close to pre-COVID levels.

“We are seeing a strong recovery in the rides business and we are seeing a pretty significant acceleration in the deliveries business,” Sheikha said. “The delivery business is significantly larger than what it was pre-COVID and continues to grow quite strongly, double digit month on month,” he said.