Friday, March 27, 2020
Bird Dumps 400 Employees Via Zoom
Santa Monica-based Bird reportedly let 400 of its employees go on Friday, via a pre-recorded Zoom meeting, according to a report. The on-demand scooter company said it laid off 30% of its staff, saying "Layoffs are never easy or comfortable to do" and saying that the layoffs were done as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a tweet, Bird said due to "CDC, WHO and a number of government mandates, Bird employees are currently all working from home and the impacted individuals received the news on a web-based call" and said "we purposefully and intentionally did not have any video on to protect privacy as we delivered the news live to individuals."
My friend just got laid off along with 400 other employees by dialing into a pre-recorded Zoom message. Her manager never even called to say goodbye. The virus may be out of your control, but how humanely you handle it is not.
— Julia Black (@mjnblack) March 27, 2020