Lyft cuts internship salaries by 50% • Hacker News Board

Re: Lyft cuts internship salaries by 50%

#21

Post by AmericanChopper » Sat, May 02, 2020, 12:30 AM UTC

cracker_jacks wrote: post #11

Picking up pennies in front of a steamroller... Does it make sense to cut the salaries of the lowest-paid, zero equity groups? The same group of people you'll be competing to hire from when they graduate.

They’re not going to be competing to hire anybody in the near future. A more sensible move would probably be to lay them all off. Internships makes sense for companies when you have labor shortages. During an economic crisis, when unemployment is so high, they’re more of an unnecessary expense.

Re: Lyft cuts internship salaries by 50%

#22

Post by ianlevesque » Sat, May 02, 2020, 12:31 AM UTC

thorwasdfasdf wrote: post #14

cracker_jacks wrote: post #11

Picking up pennies in front of a steamroller... Does it make sense to cut the salaries of the lowest-paid, zero equity groups? The same group of people you'll be competing to hire from when they graduate.

as a graduate, you'd be extremely lucky to have any job at all, let alone a job at a tech company, let alone one as well known as Lyft. Let's face it, with the current vast oversupply of labor, employers have a lot more bargaining power. Back in my day, after the Tech bubble burst, I was a coder with little experience, and I worked for any start up that would let me, just so i could get more experience. One place, I…

And it was uphill in the snow, both ways!

Re: Lyft cuts internship salaries by 50%

#23

Post by JMTQp8lwXL » Sat, May 02, 2020, 12:31 AM UTC

echelon wrote: post #16

cracker_jacks wrote: post #11

Picking up pennies in front of a steamroller... Does it make sense to cut the salaries of the lowest-paid, zero equity groups? The same group of people you'll be competing to hire from when they graduate.

I think it would be smarter to not have an internship program right now. Very little of the work from internships contributes to active product roadmap, and you'd better be served by retention than new hiring. Especially of junior engineers. Although it's a generalization, interns are as a group probably better equipped to handle sudden loss of salary. Those with children, mortgages, and healthcare needs are less so.…

It seems as if they want to cancel, but put the onus on interns to make the proper decision.

If you were negotiating a job offer, and right as it came time to sign the paperwork, would you take a 50% salary cut? You'd move on to the next company.

Re: Lyft cuts internship salaries by 50%

#24

Post by munk-a » Sat, May 02, 2020, 12:32 AM UTC

cracker_jacks wrote: post #11

Picking up pennies in front of a steamroller... Does it make sense to cut the salaries of the lowest-paid, zero equity groups? The same group of people you'll be competing to hire from when they graduate.

I seem to recall that Lyft had some of the most insanely overpaid listings in the SF area in terms of raw compensation - maybe shave 3% off those salaries above 200k instead of half what the interns make.

Edit, found it: https://www.levels.fyi/2019/

Re: Lyft cuts internship salaries by 50%

#25

Post by kenhwang » Sat, May 02, 2020, 12:32 AM UTC

On one hand, this makes sense because interns (and junior engineers) are often terrible productivity/$. Internship programs tend to be more a marketing/recruitment tool which is a bit of a luxury right now.

On the other hand, this is absolutely terrible optics and feels like desperation. I know Lyft already started furloughing and cut executive pay, but this is a bigger % than the 30% executive cut.

Re: Lyft cuts internship salaries by 50%

#26

Post by adventured » Sat, May 02, 2020, 12:34 AM UTC

forgotmylogin2 wrote: post #8

I would guess the chance of finding any other summer work right now, let alone another technical internship, is below 50%. The way you handle this is to take the internship and be happy it didn't get cancelled entirely.

Depends on the work for sure. There are a million new jobs/gigs that are opening up right now for delivery, shopping and warehouse type work.

Instacart has been trying to add several hundred thousand new contract workers ("full service shoppers" as Instacart calls them).

https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/10/instacarts-hiring-spree-co...

Re: Lyft cuts internship salaries by 50%

#27

Post by HarryHirsch » Sat, May 02, 2020, 12:34 AM UTC

AmericanChopper wrote: post #21

cracker_jacks wrote: post #11

Picking up pennies in front of a steamroller... Does it make sense to cut the salaries of the lowest-paid, zero equity groups? The same group of people you'll be competing to hire from when they graduate.

They’re not going to be competing to hire anybody in the near future. A more sensible move would probably be to lay them all off. Internships makes sense for companies when you have labor shortages. During an economic crisis, when unemployment is so high, they’re more of an unnecessary expense.

Probably better to hire a competent intern than some random applicant, even if he comes with an internal recommendation.

Re: Lyft cuts internship salaries by 50%

#28

Post by DavidPeiffer » Sat, May 02, 2020, 12:34 AM UTC

paulcole wrote: post #10

johntiger1 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was depending on this internship to support me financially. At the current rate, it doesn't work out

If you think it’s going to be tough to support yourself on 50% of what Lyft was offering, wait until you run the numbers on a $0 income.

I'm not sure what internships at Lyft pay, but their headquarters is in the bay area. After a 50% cut, they may come out ahead having $0 income compared to paying rent in their college town and the bay area, higher cost of living, and moving expenses (if not already covered).

This is particularly true for non-programming roles which pay less. It's possible Lyft covers housing separate from salaries.

I had 4 internships, never below the median pay for my degree, and I would have certainly thought twice about doing some of them if my pay was cut in half.

Re: Lyft cuts internship salaries by 50%

#29

Post by throwlaplace » Sat, May 02, 2020, 12:34 AM UTC

alex_g wrote: post #19

nicharesuk wrote: post #15

I'd be curious to know if you signed a contract already? If you signed a contract pre-cut you could technically sue (not sure if it would help but it's always an option), but if you still haven't signed a contract then this is a lesson to always have a back up plan and make sure you don't take anything for granted until that contract is signed.

Most internships are at-will employment.

most jobs are at-will employment.

Re: Lyft cuts internship salaries by 50%

#30

Post by thelean12 » Sat, May 02, 2020, 12:35 AM UTC

thorwasdfasdf wrote: post #14

cracker_jacks wrote: post #11

Picking up pennies in front of a steamroller... Does it make sense to cut the salaries of the lowest-paid, zero equity groups? The same group of people you'll be competing to hire from when they graduate.

as a graduate, you'd be extremely lucky to have any job at all, let alone a job at a tech company, let alone one as well known as Lyft. Let's face it, with the current vast oversupply of labor, employers have a lot more bargaining power. Back in my day, after the Tech bubble burst, I was a coder with little experience, and I worked for any start up that would let me, just so i could get more experience. One place, I…

Once you have a big name on your resume, you'll get all the interviews you want when you go to look for a full time job.

I'm not sure if Lyft is a big enough name, but I know having Google or Facebook on your resume as an intern is enough to have your choice in full time jobs as long as you can pass interviews.

Lyft will get hurt big time from this when these interns go to find full time jobs.