I was just laid off from Uber for the second time. As a boomerang employee, it's everything I feared coming true.
Uber laid off Kori X in 2023 and again this week. Courtesy of Kori X
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kori X, a Phoenix-based evaluations specialist on Uber's GenAI team who was laid off in 2023, rehired in May, and laid off again this week. Edited for length and clarity.
When I woke up yesterday and saw the email — four months after rejoining Uber, I was being laid off again — I wanted to throw my phone at the wall.
I was already nervous to come back. I'd loved this company, but I'd been burned once. When my store manager job dried up this year, friends still at Uber helped me land a role on the GenAI team. I told myself it would be different this time.
It wasn't.
I never saw it coming
I was in the office constantly, on the employee experience team, planning holiday events. My manager was let go too — the same manager who sent the layoff email. Nothing hinted at this. A month ago, Uber cut just a couple of people, and it felt like we had breathing room.
We didn't.
My access vanished by 5 p.m.
Slack was gone before I could even say goodbye. My system access cut off at 5 p.m. sharp.
The package isn't bad: 21 weeks of severance, two months of garden leave — salary, benefits, and equity vesting until November.
But I'm not waiting. I started applying the same day. The job market is brutal — I was just in it earlier this year. Ideally, I'd land somewhere smaller, outside corporate life. But if corporate is what it takes to survive, so be it.
The CEO's excuse doesn't hold up
Dara says there were too many management layers? If so, that's his fault. Upper leadership built that structure — not frontline workers.
Here's what I actually think is happening: AI can do the work, so they can make more money with fewer people. The "management layers" line is a cover.
And if they're going to cut people, at least be discerning. Some of the best, longest-tenured people got hit. I knew that company like the back of my hand.
They didn't care.