
Uber lays off 3700 employees via Zoom - frellus
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8301471/Watch-3-500-Uber-employees-told-laid-three-minute-ZOOM-call.html
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drevil-v2
> 'They were going based on a lottery, like Russian roulette. The severance
> package is generous, but they're treating us like they treat the drivers,'
> she continued, referring to Uber's less than stellar reputation in fairly
> compensating their independent contractors.

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?

~~~
econcon
>but they're treating us like they treat the drivers.

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.

~~~
findyoucef
Why save them the emotional torment? They should feel uncomfortable

~~~
loktarogar
some poor HR person? it's their job...

~~~
iJohnDoe
It’s not some poor HR person. The HR person loves to fire people, for lots of
different reasons. Here are just three reasons.

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.

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frellus
Maybe it's almost a good sign it's only 14% of the company -- I don't know
anyone that's been taking Ubers since March

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greendave
> 'Apparently someone at the CEO level leaked that this was gonna happen, so
> they expedited it.'

> 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.

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namelosw
> They're treating us like they treat the drivers

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."

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DmitryOlshansky
Some tech companies are simply not sustainable and won’t last a year in the
new reality.

~~~
bhupy
Uber has $8B in cash.

~~~
DmitryOlshansky
Yeah, but for how long?

s/1/10/

~~~
bhupy
As with running away from the bear, they just need to outrun the other guy.

How long does Lyft have? When can Uber raise its prices to become EBITDA
positive?

~~~
vmception
Wall St was pleased with Lyft's growth, not pleased with Uber's growth but did
not see surprises.

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.

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_xerxes_
That is one horrible website, I can't believe that garbage was posted on HN.

~~~
vikramkr
Surely theres a better source for this news than this sort of tabloid trash?
Just looking at the article's title - it's so sensationalist and clickbaity.

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xhruso00
This remind me movie: Up in the air where George Cloney and the company he
works for want to lay of people using Cisco Webex.

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battery_cowboy
Well, I'd rather get laid off over zoom than email, also, I was laid off in 3
minutes in-person. Is that better? I would have preferred they just called me
that morning so i could have stayed home. Maybe that's just me. It sucks to be
laid off any way you look at it.

~~~
tyingq
Laid off, one-on-one, over Zoom would be okay with me. Then I could ask
questions that are specific to me and (hopefully) get answers.

A mass call with thousands of people though? I don't see how that's ever okay.

~~~
1stranger
Presumably there is a lot of management being laid off as well that managed
those 3,500 people. There probably isn't enough HR to manage that volume of
layoffs 1:1. No point in dragging it out over multiple days, dealing with
rumors, etc.

I watched the call in the article. Given the severance they're getting I think
they did the most humane thing possible.

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onetimemanytime
Zoom or not the news is bad. In person probably is worse, the decision is
final.

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squnch
I really don’t get this criticism of “laying off over Zoom.” What are they
supposed to do, visit them in person at their home and infect them with Covid
while laying them off? All meetings are over Zoom now.

~~~
totallynotabot
A manager 1:1 or immediate-working-team video call would have been more
respectful way to end a working relationship, no? Something that includes some
amount of personal communication/conversation rather than a mass broadcast
anonymous message?

Treating someone as a person, rather than a resource. If it were happening to
you, what would you hope for?

~~~
hadtodoit
I'd be happy with the generous severance package and move on with my life. But
do you honestly care about a generic exit interview? Do you think any employer
cares that much? Seems like a total waste of time for everyone involved given
the circumstances.

~~~
vmception
I honestly don't think these are issues, they get some journalist to find the
one person in 3700 complaining on twitter

