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The linked article has a really bad title. There was another article I think by The Information as well that said that Uber was planning 800 layoffs for enginee
by jennyyang 6y ago
The linked article has a really bad title. There was another article I think by The Information as well that said that Uber was planning 800 layoffs for engineers, which would still bring them over 3000 engineers. That seems quite high for a company whose main revenue has been catastrophically impacted globally.
Asking employees to take a pay cut is always a bad idea. Having gone through the dotcom bust, I can tell you that paycuts across the board will demotivate employees, even if they keep their jobs. As soon as this pandemic is over, they will flee to another company willing to pay them more.
The best way to handle crises like this, or the dotcom bust, or the next recession, is to cut deeply once. Too many times you get into situations where you want to do the least amount of damage and you don't have the courage to make the cuts you need. And then you end up going through multiple cuts over and over again, which paralyzes the company. Cut deeply, and preserve the cash bonuses and promotion cycles for the ones who remain. Show that you will take care of the employees laid off with generous severance packages, and then you will take care of the employees that stay, and this will cement loyalty.
- toomuchtodo 6y agoThe article also says engineering is moving overseas. The Uber Engineering era is over. Cutting deep vs pay cuts is moot, any talented engineer will be headed to greener pastures. “Uber by McKinsey” [1] [1] https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/how-mckinsey-destroyed-middle-class/605878/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/how-mckins...
- jkinudsjknds 6y agoThat article doesn't seem to be relevant?
- hn_throwaway_99 6y agoTotally, totally agree with this. I have a ton of respect for Dara Khosrowshahi, but if I were a good engineer, I would get out. The second the "we're going to move engineering overseas to save money" line comes out, the bean counters won. I'm not even going to argue one way or the other if this is good or bad for the company, but after having been through it before it is DEFINITELY bad for the engineering team. I wouldn't make it an emergency to get out in the current market but I would definitely leave as soon as I could.
- theredbox 6y agoIf they can do it and succeed the Valley is in serious trouble and it's the same if they fail.