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Comment by saisundar | Hacker News Reader

I am wondering why there are two separate rounds of layoffs. Isn't it better for morale to just have the band aid ripped quick, once and for all?

What context does Uber have now, that they did not when the initial layoff wave happened?

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As I understand it, the first was for comms, operations, and support roles. This layoff was more product-related (so engineering, design, and product roles) and required more thought around how they were going to position themselves strategically going forward.

Management isn't omnipotent.

> What context does Uber have now

More data that can be feed into their financials models to understand the short-term and long-term impact of this market on their cash flow. Companies don't do layoffs because things are nice and predictable.

> omnipotent

You seem to like that word, it being your nick, but that said, it would seem to me that any management that believes it is omnipotent ought to be fired on the spot. That sort of delusion can only end in tears.

The delusion is the opposite, in that everyone else thinks management should magically have all the right and best answers at the drop of a dime. In reality, management is people too with varied levels of experience and competence. And like all people, they make mistakes so we shouldn't be surprised they don't get it right all the time.

Isn't the word you're looking for omniscient ?

Haha yes it has become muscle memory.

uber never seemed like a rational company that thinks of the good of its employees (i know it’s a business, but still).

the cut deep, cut once method for layoffs is doing business 101, but still there are 2 rounds of layoffs at uber

Dara hinted in his first email that there were more layoffs on the way. I consider them to be a single layoff, one portion of which took more time to execute.

Isn't hinting the worst approach in that case though? I can't imagine that the additional uncertainty helped with staff morale.

Is it? You already laid off a large percentage of staff. Your product teams will have seen the data showing cratering revenue. Your top engineers are almost certainly already looking for new jobs anyways. You know you are going to have to make this move no matter what. Anyone with a brain knows that the status quo is unsustainable whether you say the quiet part out loud or not.

Better to give people a heads up so they can start getting their resumes in order, hitting up their networks, etc. rather than telling a blatant lie.

Internally, Dara was very clear that the layoff would happen in 2 stages for the different organizations

Isn't this the ultimate problem of corporate leadership though? You have basically four options when making complicated decisions:

- lie, by saying there is no discussion

- omit, by not saying whether or not there is a discussion

- discuss openly

- don't discuss, just make the decision rashly

Decisions like this tend to follow one of the first two options, but clearly none of them are great. They're all damaging in their own way.

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