Uber lays off 3700 employees via Zoom
dailymail.co.uk
dailymail.co.uk
Maybe I am old but it seems to me that woman is super entitled. By her own words the severance package is generous; what else does she want?
So it's fine to treat drivers bad?
Who enabled this treatment of drivers?
I prefer being fired/layed off through a text message, it will save me not having to make weird faces and hide emotions when dealing with the person who laid me off.
1. The HR person craves drama. They live for it. It’s the reason they are an HR person. Firing people is drama.
2. Firing people gives the the HR person a sense of power over others and sense of being important. They are really just doing the bidding of someone higher up, but that is why it makes them feel important because they are “in the know” when most others are not.
3. It gives them a feeling of being in control and immune to being fired since they often manipulate and control the outcomes.
If someone wanted to help people then they wouldn’t have chosen HR as a profession. HR isn’t there to help the employees. They are there to help and protect the company.
> prefer being fired/layed off through a text message [...]
where I suggest that a text message could be forged. From that point, either you don't pay attention to that possibility, and take the risk of being fired for real, or you request a confirmation through some other mean of communication, something that can be verified, and thus render the original message moot.
Or did that person imply that somehow message of that sort would be signed off cryptographically? I didn't think about that option, but I wonder how many companies deploy PKIs for emails between employees. Maybe this is more common than I think?
And "Russian roulette" would imply suicidal gambling of one's own volition so that is an improper metaphor.
She almost reached the point of enlightenment, but stopped right there.
We can talk for hours about all the things Uber could certainly could have done differently throughout their history that - maybe, possibly, in a parallel universe - could have prevented this from happening. But they are where they are now, and there's no "good way" to lay off 3,500 people in a situation like this.
Also, to the sibling here - there's simply not enough information to suggest that these employees could not ask questions at all. At least by my read, that's not stated anywhere, and unless explicitly stated otherwise my assumption is that they were provided with the contact information for someone if they had questions - as this is typically how most companies would handle this, particularly at Uber's size.
What makes it feel inhumane is when you're laid off with 3700 other employees in a three minute meeting. It means you don't get to talk directly with your manager nor are you potentially given a chance to speak with your team.
At least they spared them one more long meeting where they yap on about how important people are, how this a hard choice, how the company will emerge stronger (like I care), this doesn't reflect upon you personally, etc. They weren't cowards hiding behind nice words while the "liberated" people from their jobs. That's more humane than most companies.
> It means you don't get to talk directly with your manager nor are you potentially given a chance to speak with your team.
This very often happens during in person layoffs already, "we're sorry to let you go, security has a box with all your crap at the door".
Yes...and? That's also an inhumane way of laying off employees and frankly, any company that treats their workers like that deserves to be heavily criticized.
Calling this more humane is a bold take, but a wrong one. It's akin to getting laid off in a single mass email across the company. What happens if someone missed the meeting, or if they were otherwise working on stuff with their team? It's flagrant disrespect for their time and the work they've put in for the company. Calling them not cowards when they made the most cowardly way of laying people off isn't right. It's one step away from getting a text from your boss telling you to stop coming in and that they'll mail you your stuff.
You don't want this to happen to you? Unionize.
The tech industry might finally get the wakeup call to unionize.
Besides, getting fired along with 3499 people has got to feel better than getting fired alone.
> The employee tells DailyMail.com that more layoffs at Uber are expected.
Leaks at the executive level + lack of trust by employees for the future means those who can leave will. This part is a problem of their own making.
I feel even more uncomfortable reading this sentence.
Maybe I'm overreacted but feels like many historical political events like "We help them deal with <an ethnic group>. But we didn't expect they treating us the same way after that."
Uber certainly had cash flow problems before this started, but even companies with healthy cash flow that operate in heavily hit industries are going to feel this. For example, Expedia recently laid off 3,000 if I remember correctly.
s/1/10/
How long does Lyft have? When can Uber raise its prices to become EBITDA positive?
Easier to impress when you start from a smaller amount and don't have a bunch of pet projects to shed.
People are obsessed with this rideshare/gig economy winner take all idea almost like they have to believe it... actually that explains a lot.
A mass call with thousands of people though? I don't see how that's ever okay.
I watched the call in the article. Given the severance they're getting I think they did the most humane thing possible.
Treating someone as a person, rather than a resource. If it were happening to you, what would you hope for?
Do you know the worst thing about a layoff, knowing that people are being laid off and not knowing what's happening to you or the details of the layoff. In your scenario, the first few people who were laid off are very likely going to reach out to their work friends and soon everyone knows there are layoffs, but no one knows who's getting let go. So you do you prolong this suffering, or do you make it quick and provide a way to ask questions afterwards? I think quick is better.
I've been through an in person layoff, and nobody spends time with those who are leaving. We did the visit each person and tell them their fate, and it sucked. But we spent only a few minutes with each person, because we had to make it relatively quick. Everyone had to wait in their offices to find out their fate.
No matter what way you choose, there is always going to be an armchair quarterback saying the way you did it is wrong. Layoffs are hard and there is no way to make everybody really happy about them.
Or even better, I'd hope for a written email explaining the detail instead.
I never encountered a layoff. But I encountered several rejections after on-site interviews.
And, every time, the recruiters insisted on talking on the phone. It wasted my time. Scheduling a phone call required scheduling it the next day and finding available time and etc.
Just tell me the outcome. Personal communication is great, but it shouldn't waste people's time.