What’s different about Airbnb is the manner in which the company informed employees of its plans.

At the time, this was one of the largest layoffs that we’ve seen out of Silicon Valley, due to the effect of the Covid-19 outbreak. Roughly 1,900 people out of the company’s 7,500 total workforce would lose their jobs. The company announced that it would downsize 25% of its workforce. There wasn’t any in-depth discussion around severance packages, benefits or any other color provided as to what's going on.Īirbnb took a different, more enlightened approach to layoffs during the height of the virus outbreak. On the call, the employees were told that they’ve been let go.

The gym’s chief human resources officer, Tami Majer, sent an email to workers asking them to participate in a phone call to discuss “important company updates,” indicating that they’ll be paid for their time. Their Slack and other accounts were shut off and given end dates.Ģ4 Hour Fitness, a privately held national chain of about 430 gyms with 22,000 workers, fired employees via a phone call. A disembodied voice read a script informing the person that they’ve been laid off. The unsuspecting workers were asked to log into a one-way Zoom call, after being informed that all other appointments were cancelled. Scooter-sharing startup Bird fired 406 employees in April 2020 via a Black Mirror-style video. Your role is impacted and today will be your last working day with Uber.' Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said of the downsizing, 'We're focused on navigating through this crisis that absolutely leaves us in a stronger position, as the world starts to recover.' Khosrowshahi announced that he will be forsaking his base salary. She said, 'With trip volume down, the difficult and unfortunate reality is there is not enough work for many front-line customer support employees.'Ĭhaveleau added, 'As a result, we are eliminating 3,500 front-line customer support roles. The company’s business dropped by over 50%. Chevaleau soberly shared that Uber’s business was hit hard. The head of Uber’s customer service office, Ruffin Chevaleau, told workers that it was their last day at the company. In a sign of the times, with employees working from home, Uber informed the job-loss casualties via an online Zoom call. Back in May 2020, at the early stages of the Covid-19 outbreak, ride-sharing company Uber announced the layoff of 3,500 employees, representing 14% of its workforce. This is not the first time people were let go via a one-sided or cold video announcement.

Ceo fires 900 employees zoom