Uber lays off 435 people • Hacker News Board

Re: Uber lays off 435 people

#11

Post by heliodor » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 6:54 PM UTC

tempsy wrote: post #5

ssully wrote: post #2

Related, but Uber is said to be hiring 2,00 for it's new Chicago office next year [1]. A mix of engineering and operations. My understanding this would be under their freight team, which according to this Techcrunch article, was unaffected by this layoff. [1]: https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-uber-hiring-o...

Unless there was a performance issue then why not allow these employees to transfer if they want to?

Might be that the company is that disfunctional. Between the news articles and the horrendous software quality, it seems to me the company is a mess.

Re: Uber lays off 435 people

#12

Post by Yhippa » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 6:54 PM UTC

This is a bold move for sure. It sounds like they might have hired the wrong people so instead of "redeploying" them they just cut pretty deeply. Definitely unfortunate for the employees but also impressive that Uber had the guts to do this. I've seen companies let dead weight hang on for too long. The fact that they are still hiring makes me think that this was not a panic move to address Wall Street.

Re: Uber lays off 435 people

#13

Post by netfl0 » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 6:55 PM UTC

I’d like the see HN consider layoffs in other verticals as well. Particularly manufacturing.

Re: Uber lays off 435 people

#14

Post by djsumdog » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 6:55 PM UTC

How does this work with layoffs + hiring? Can you layoff and then hire in the same department? I assume companies agree to pay at least unemployment and possible severance too in the case of layoffs. Can a company say "These 80 employees are under preforming" and justify a reduction in force that way? (I guess in at-will employment you don't need to justify it at all, so long as you meet legal unemployment requirements?)

Are they getting rid of under performers and getting new blood or are they cutting people from certain departments (in which case, they could apply to be rehired in another division?)

Re: Uber lays off 435 people

#15

Post by riffic » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 6:56 PM UTC

rubicon33 wrote: post #8

There's definitely a tightening of capital happening right now. Investors are pulling back as fear of recession grows. EDIT: Did I say I believe there's a recession coming? No. I said (accurately) that there are growing FEARS of one. There's definitely tightening of investments and capital happening.

Where is the line between "fear of recession" and "being in a recession"?

Recessions happen on a somewhat consistent cycle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_cycle, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_recessions); people would be less fearful if they were better prepared for their inevitability. Antifragility would be a good concept to be familiar with.

Re: Uber lays off 435 people

#16

Post by arthurcolle » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 6:56 PM UTC

netfl0 wrote: post #13

I’d like the see HN consider layoffs in other verticals as well. Particularly manufacturing.

Why?

Re: Uber lays off 435 people

#17

Post by djsumdog » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 6:57 PM UTC

txcwpalpha wrote: post #7

ssully wrote: post #2

Related, but Uber is said to be hiring 2,00 for it's new Chicago office next year [1]. A mix of engineering and operations. My understanding this would be under their freight team, which according to this Techcrunch article, was unaffected by this layoff. [1]: https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-uber-hiring-o...

They also recently announced plans to hire 3,000+ in Dallas [1] at a brand new massive office. I'm sure the hiring and layoffs are from different business units, but it does seem strange that there's been multiple several-hundred-people-layoff stories form Uber recently at the same time they're announcing otherwise massive hiring expansion. I would at least figure that they would prefer to transfer engineers between…

Maybe some of them were given an option, but they didn't want to move locations; so they just decided it's better to pay them severance while they look for other work? /guess

Re: Uber lays off 435 people

#18

Post by metalliqaz » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 6:57 PM UTC

rubicon33 wrote: post #8

There's definitely a tightening of capital happening right now. Investors are pulling back as fear of recession grows. EDIT: Did I say I believe there's a recession coming? No. I said (accurately) that there are growing FEARS of one. There's definitely tightening of investments and capital happening.

Is Uber short of capital? I didn't see that in the article.

Re: Uber lays off 435 people

#19

Post by notTyler » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 6:57 PM UTC

I've always wondered if uber were to abandon their ongoing development efforts and focus on support and maintenance, would they would actually be profitable? It seems to me they would need a fraction of the tech workers they currently support.

Re: Uber lays off 435 people

#20

Post by dvt » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 6:57 PM UTC

Uber was actively poaching from our team when I was at Edmunds.com a few years ago; hope my ex-teammates that jumped ship are doing alright.

Uber is in a precarious position and I can't help but wonder what would be different if Travis Kalanick were still in charge. I know it might be an unpopular opinion, but I think his leadership and vision were really instrumental to Uber's early success.