Lyft dumps 17% of staff, furloughs 5%, cuts pay as people stay home, avoid rides in possibly virus-ridden cars

Lyft announced Wednesday it will lay off 17 per cent of staff, and furlough five per cent, as its business collapses amid coronavirus lockdowns and slowdowns. That amounts to roughly 980 people axed, and 290 on pause with no pay. And we're talking operations staff, not the folks who pick up and drop off users of its dial-a- …

[robidy]

Remind me, how are they looking after their drivers...you know the ones we're all told like to be paid very little because of the freedoms being an Uber or Lyft driver offers...

[J27]

Yeah...

This is how they treat their employees, their contractors are totally SOL. GIG economy is just the new buzzword for exploiting the uneducated masses.

[jason_derp]

Re: A little unfair

"GIG economy is just the new buzzword for exploiting the uneducated masses."

Not sure that that's totally fair. Not the exploitaition part, the uneducated part. If capitalism has taught me anything, it's that education never meant you were immune to a hard butt-f$%^ing by the suits born with spoons of a certain color in their possession.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: A little unfair

"GIG economy is just the new buzzword for exploiting the uneducated masses."

And the educated ones too. e.g. British universities don't stint when it comes to exploiting those.

It's perfectly normal for a university to get some sucker of a graduate student or a recent PhD desperate for money or a career in academia to sign up to a casual hourly paid contract to deliver so many hours of lectures in a semester, i.e. not pay for the time to prepare the lectures. The poor sod ends up working for far less than the minimum wage.

[Kevin McMurtrie]

Disruptions disrupted

Don't these companies need a full staff to invent whatever amazing things the billions were spent on? I thought self-driving and flying taxis were on the way. Otherwise we just have another couple of taxi companies with an app.

[AMBxx]

Re: Disruptions disrupted

I was surprised at how many people they do employ - website does bookings etc, they don't employ drivers. Are these all marketing and admin?

[Julz]

Re: Disruptions disrupted

Unfortunately we do just have taxi companies with apps that clam not to employ their drivers. But hey, they do say they might have a black tulip or two or was it a unique trade agreement with the South Pacific or maybe...

[hoola]

Re: Disruptions disrupted

Like many other comments, I am surprised that they employ that many people. Just what they are doing is a mystery.

For those involved at the sharp end of the Gig Economy, the harsh realities of all the flexibility will now be coming evident.

Those at the top will still be pocketing the money as nothing has changed, they never made a profit before, just burnt VC money.

[LucreLout]

Re: Disruptions disrupted

Otherwise we just have another couple of taxi companies with an app.

The part of that which works fine for customers, especially in London, is the "another couple of taxi companies" part. It gives you a choice of the wholly artificially expensive, don't do nights, racists driving about in black cabs.

[Anonymous Coward]

couldn't happen to nicer people, but

it never happens to the disruptive c***s at the top. They'll be the last to go, and they have already have a plan, how to do nicely from a burning pyre that was their disruptive and totally awesome business model. Meanwhile "let go" of those disposable human assets to lighten the load...