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Uber's investigation into its own working culture and sexism within the company has concluded. The report from Eric Holder's law firm has seen Uber CEO Travis Kalanick step away from his company for an 'indefinite' period of time.
"The ultimate responsibility, for where we’ve gotten and how we’ve gotten here rests on my shoulders," Kalanick wrote in an email to employees, before saying he wanted to create an 'Uber 2.0' and a 'Travis 2.0' that is "much improved".
Read more: What is Silicon Valley's problem with women?
However, despite the CEO's wishes to recreate the firm with a less toxic working culture, an Uber board member has resigned after making a sexist comment at the meeting where Holder's report was discussed. At an 'all hands' meeting David Bonderman, a partner at private equity investment firm TPG, made a disparaging comment about women.
As first reported by Yahoo Finance, fellow board member Arianna Huffington was speaking about appointing more women to the Uber board.
"There's a load of data that shows when there's one woman on the board it's much more likely that there will be a second woman on the board," she said.
Bonderman responded by saying: "Actually, what it shows is that it's much more likely to be more talking".
Since his resignation, The New York Times reports, Bonderman has apologised, saying his comment "came across in a way that was the opposite of what I intended".
The incident happened as the Uber board accepted all the proposals in Holder's report about how to change its workplace culture. The 13-page report called for reducing Kalanick's power, more controls over spending and the behaviour of managers. The full list of recommendations is below.
The report was commissioned after former Uber employee Susan Fowler wrote a 2,800 word blog post describing a 'toxic' working culture where she was harassed by fellow staff. In response, Uber started to investigate itself and called in Holder to conduct a review of the firm.
Holder, who works for Covington & Burling LLP, interviewed 200 current and former staff, many of which had complained about working conditions at the company. There were also online focus groups and a database search of more than three million documents.
– Review and reallocate the responsibilities of Travis Kalanick – Use the Chief Operating Officer search to identify candidates who can help address these recommendations – Use performance reviews to hold senior leaders accountable – Increase the profile of Uber’s dead of diversity and the efforts of his organization
– Enhance the independence of the board – Install an independent chairperson of the board – Create an oversight committee – Use compensation to hold senior leaders accountable – Nominate a senior team member to oversee the recommendations
– Enhance the audit committee – Review travel and expense repayments and other policies – Better HR record keeping – Track agreements with employees
"Uber should reformulate its written cultural values because it is vital that they reflect more inclusive and positive behaviors," the report says. This includes working with outside organisations and that the firm's leaders should be role models within the company.
– Senior team members should have leadership training – Human resources staff should be trained on handling complaints – Managers should get training – Staff who conduct interviews should be trained to do so
– Someone should be in-charge of HR policies and HR should have enough staff – Managers should support HR more – A complaint process should exist and there should be ways to escalate complaints
– Create a diversity advisory board and publish diversity statistics – CVs of potential employees should be reviewed in a 'blind' way plus women and those from ethnic minorities should get interview positions – Create a sponsorship program to improve junior employees – Get feedback from employees and reward those who promote diversity
– Discrimination and harassment policies should be updated – Guidelines about intimate workplace relationships – Clear guidelines on alcohol consumption – Change performance review processes – Flexible working should be allowed and promotion requirements should be clearer
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
