Uber Cuts Jobs in Kraków as Business Services Shift Toward India and Automation

Uber is reducing employment at its Kraków centre. More than 150 people received notices at the end of July 2026, according to Onet, and employees expect another round of cuts. Some processes previously handled in Kraków are reportedly being transferred to India. The case illustrates a wider transformation in Poland's business-services sector: routine processes are being automated or moved to lower-cost locations, while demand is shifting toward technology and specialist skills. The contrast with Uber's arrival in Kraków is striking. In December 2015, the company announced a PLN 38 million investment and the creation of its first Center of Excellence in Central and Eastern Europe. By the end of 2017 it was expected to employ more than 140 people. In 2023, the Kraków office had grown to around 400 specialists serving users and drivers in 28 countries. More than 150 jobs already cut According to Onet, group layoffs at Uber's Kraków operation affected more than 150 employees at the end of July. Staff members say some tasks are being transferred to India and that employees included in the reductions have been involved in knowledge-transfer processes. There are also reports of another possible round affecting several dozen positions. Those employee accounts should be distinguished from Uber's official explanation for its broader global restructuring. The company has announced plans to cut around 3,300 positions worldwide, approximately 10% of its global workforce, as it simplifies structures, combines teams and reduces the number of roles focused primarily on coordination. Kraków's business-services market is changing Local labour-market data suggest the issue extends beyond one company. In 2025, group layoffs in Kraków covered 4,443 employees. During the first half of 2026, companies notified authorities of plans to eliminate 2,050 jobs, more than 1,300 of them in the business-services sector. In July, two companies announced another 1,079 planned reductions. At the same time, Kraków's unemployment rate has risen to 2.8%. That remains very low by national standards, but the direction of change is clear. The Grodzki Labour Office has warned that demand is declining for roles based on simple and repetitive tasks, while employers increasingly seek skills in data analysis, automation, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and management of complex processes. Uber is not the only large employer adjusting its Polish operations. HSBC is also reducing employment in Kraków, while some processes are being developed in India. Onet has reported a similar direction at Heineken. For simpler operational work, the cost differential between Poland and lower-cost markets is becoming important again. Fewer routine jobs, more specialist work This does not mean the end of Kraków's BPO and shared-services sector. A more likely outcome is a sharper division between types of work. Repetitive processes will increasingly be automated or relocated, while Poland will compete for tasks requiring deeper knowledge, responsibility, contact with business decision-makers and technology expertise. Kraków still has major advantages: a large academic base, an experienced pool of specialists and more than a decade of experience in serving global processes. What is becoming harder to defend are jobs whose primary competitive advantage was simply a favourable cost-to-quality ratio compared with Western Europe. For employees, this is a more fundamental change than a single wave of layoffs. Language skills and experience in process support, which once offered a stable career path in shared-services centres, increasingly need to be combined with data, automation, process management or technical capabilities. A decade ago, Uber's Kraków investment was presented as evidence that the city was moving up the global services value chain. The current reductions do not erase that success, but they show the next stage of the same process: being cheaper than Western Europe is no longer enough. Kraków now competes simultaneously with lower-cost markets such as India and with increasingly sophisticated automation. Source: ManagerPlus; Uber, PAP MediaRoom, Grodzki Labour Office in Kraków, City of Kraków and Onet.