Monat: Juni 2017

Uber Board Member Resigns After Sexist Remark At Staff Meeting Addressing Sexism

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Uber board member David Bonderman has resigned, hours after he was criticized for making a sexist remark at an all-hands staff meeting held to discuss an investigation into reports of sexual harassment and discrimination at Uber, a representative for the board confirmed.

The New York Times first reported the resignation of Bonderman, a partner at the private equity firm TPG.

Uber board member Arianna Huffington noted at the meeting on Tuesday that the ride-hailing giant's board is now 25% female: Nestlé executive Wan Ling Martello joined the board on Monday.

“There’s a lot of data that shows that when there is one woman on the board it’s much more likely that there will be a second woman,” she said.

Bonderman then interjected. “Actually what it shows is that it’s much more likely to be more talking,” he said. Bonderman later apologized in a company-wide email for his comment.

“I want to apologize to my fellow board member for a disrespectful comment that as directed at her during today's discussion,” Bonderman wrote. “It was inappropriate. I also want to apologize to all Uber employees who were offended by the remark. I deeply regret it.”

Quelle: <a href="Uber Board Member Resigns After Sexist Remark At Staff Meeting Addressing Sexism“>BuzzFeed

Uber Employees Are Skeptical The Holder Report Will Change Anything

Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt / AFP / Getty Images

Current and former Uber employees say the ride-hail giant has for years ignored concerns raised by an internal investigation into the company’s culture.

The investigation — and the 13-page list of recommended changes to company structure and culture that resulted from it — came after a former employee, Susan Fowler, went public with allegations of discrimination and sexual harassment and Uber enlisted former attorney general Eric Holder to conduct an independent investigation of her claims. On Sunday, Uber’s board voted unanimously to adopt the report’s recommendations, and on Tuesday, management presented it to employees in an all-hands meeting.

But 10 current and former employees told BuzzFeed that while the report and the board’s receptiveness to it are encouraging, many of the issues and remedies outlined were well-known within the company for some time.

“They have had meetings internally for years where people brought up these concerns,” one employee told BuzzFeed News. “Now that they are doing damage control and Eric Holder’s firm said that need to change things, they are serious about it.”

“Many of us raised [concerns] for a long time,” another employee told BuzzFeed. “Directors of engineering that didn’t do anything are still there.”

“Seems like a good beginning, but unless there is much more behind the headlines, it's woefully inadequate,” one former senior employee told BuzzFeed News.

“They have had meetings internally for years where people brought up these concerns.”

“I would guess none of this news is going to come as a surprise to anybody who’s ever spent any time at Uber,” another former employee said. “How much [of the report] is sort of cosmetic versus how much they actually plan to live it?”

Asked to comment for this article, an Uber spokesman referred BuzzFeed News to comments Liane Hornsey, the company’s chief human resources officer, made earlier in the day.

“Implementing these recommendations will improve our culture, promote fairness and accountability, and establish processes and systems to ensure the mistakes of the past will not be repeated,” she wrote. While change does not happen overnight, we’re committed to rebuilding trust with our employees, riders and drivers.”

The report recommended sweeping changes to the way Uber is run, including creating an ethics committee on the board, offering managers more training, prioritizing diversity, prohibiting sexual relationships between certain employees, and enforcing guidelines on alcohol consumption and drug use at company events. Uber’s reputation has been tarnished by a recent series of bruising accounts of its internal culture, and the Holder report and its recommendations seem to validate many of these stories.

“There’s a lot of improvement to be done and I’m glad we’re taking concrete steps.”

“I think there’s a lot of improvement to be done and I’m glad we’re taking concrete steps,” one current employee said. A former employee echoed a similar sentiment, saying that it is promising to see movement to improve the company’s culture after years of lip service.

Significantly, the report also called for a lesser role for Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick, who announced the same day of the report’s publication that he is taking a leave of absence from the company. “For Uber 2.0 to succeed there is nothing more important than dedicating my time to building out the leadership team. But if we are going to work on Uber 2.0, I also need to work on Travis 2.0 to become the leader that this company needs and that you deserve,” he wrote in a note to staff Tuesday.

One employee speculated that Kalanick’s absence could help the company turn its culture around. Another employee told BuzzFeed, “I’d prefer him around even if he’s an asshole,” expressing concern about a leadership void. More than a dozen executives have left Uber this year. In Kalanick’s absence, the company will be run by his direct reports, including Rachel Holt, the head of Uber’s US and Canada business.

The report also specifically recommended that Uber reformulate its 14 cultural values, including mantras like “always be hustlin’, toe-stepping, and principled confrontation,” which the report indicated had been used within Uber “to justify poor behavior.”

“The cultural values were announced in 2015, many years in — that's already farcical,” another former employee said. “You don't state cultural values, you have them. So there's now a repeal, then what, replace?”

“It is bullshit that they are patting themselves on the back for just 25% women on the board.”

During the all-hands meeting Tuesday to discuss the report’s findings, Uber board member Arianna Huffington noted that Uber’s board is now 25% female. (Nestlé executive Wan Ling Martello joined the board on Monday.) “There’s a lot of data that shows that when there is one woman on the board it’s much more likely that there will be a second woman,” she said. David Bonderman, another board member, then interjected. “Actually what it shows is that it’s much more likely to be more talking,” he said. Bonderman later apologized in a company-wide email for his comment.

One current employee brought up Bonderman’s joke as an example of how much further Uber has to go. “That is why it is bullshit that they are patting themselves on the back for just 25% women on the board,” the employee told BuzzFeed.

The report may rectify institutional issues for the future, another former employee said, but it does not compensate for years of ignored concerns.

“I don’t think it’s too late, but it’s a price all the older people paid,” this person said.

Quelle: <a href="Uber Employees Are Skeptical The Holder Report Will Change Anything“>BuzzFeed

An Uber Without A CEO Isn't Going Public Anytime Soon

Wall Street bankers have been salivating for some time over the prospect of an initial public offering by Uber, the most valuable tech startup in the world. Trying to predict an IPO can feel futile even in good times — the ride-hail company hasn't revealed any specific plans — but the decision on Tuesday by Uber CEO Travis Kalanick to take a leave of absence has clouded Wall Street's crystal ball.

Kalanick, engulfed by Uber's roiling sexual harassment crisis, and grieving his recently deceased mother, told employees in a memo that he would be taking “some time off of the day-to-day” for an indefinite period. During this leave, “the leadership team, my directs, will be running the company,” he wrote. “I will be available as needed for the most strategic decisions, but I will be empowering them to be bold and decisive in order to move the company forward swiftly.”

Kalanick in June.

Staff / Reuters

While no one realistically expected Uber to file to go public in the middle of a crisis, the prospect of leadership by committee effectively rules out an IPO in the near future, at least until Kalanick returns, market experts told BuzzFeed News. A successful IPO depends on telling a compelling story to investors, and having a strong leader is a virtual requirement.

“It needs to have a CEO almost as a figurehead,” said Jared Carmel, managing partner of Manhattan Venture Partners, a boutique investment bank and fund manager. “You need leadership, you need confidence. You're asking Wall Street and Greenwich to invest in you. You need to instill confidence in the shareholder base.”

Kathleen Smith, principal of Renaissance Capital, an investment management firm focused on IPOs, said she had never heard of a committee-led company going public. “I've never seen it, because it's such a bad idea,” she said.

“Businesses don't run by committee, whether they're public or private,” Smith added. “That's not going to be a sustained situation.”

Still, reading between the lines of Kalanick's email, it appears that the Uber CEO may not be totally absent during his leave, Smith said. She noted that Kalanick said he'd still be available for “the most strategic decisions.”

Kalanick may still be “calling the shots,” Smith said.

By the time Kalanick does come back, he will be required to share some of his responsibilities with a chief operating officer, and his power will be checked by an independent chairperson, according to recommendations that the Uber board voted on Sunday to adopt.

Having a strong suite of executives surrounding Kalanick should be interpreted by Wall Street as positive, Carmel said. In that case, he said, “everyone can do what they do best.”

An Uber spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Quelle: <a href="An Uber Without A CEO Isn't Going Public Anytime Soon“>BuzzFeed