*16/6/17:
Uber's CEO Travis Kalanick has started an indefinite period of leave from his firm. Following the publication of a report detailing the internal working practices at the company, Kalanick says he will step away from the firm's leadership for now.
"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. "Recent events have brought home for me that people are more important than work".
His sidestep also comes following the death of his mother. The CEO says during an "interim period" the leadership team at Uber will take more responsibility for the firm's direction.
Read more about the report into Uber's working practices*
Original story:
In a now infamous letter, Travis Kalanick, chief executive of Uber, listed the situations in which it was acceptable for company employees to have sex with each other:
Read more: What is Silicon Valley's problem with women?
"Do not have sex with another employee UNLESS a) you have asked that person for that privilege and they have responded with an emphatic "YES! I will have sex with you" AND b) the two (or more) of you do not work in the same chain of command. Yes, that means that Travis will be celibate on this trip."
He signed off this section of the "Miami letter" with two hashtags: #CEOLife and #FML (Fuck My Life).
Kalanick, who cofounded the ride-hailing company in 2009 with Garrett Camp, now finds himself the centre of an investigation into the alleged toxic working culture at Uber. With accusations that Uber ignored complaints of sexual harassment and misbehaviour, the company has become the focal point of a far-reaching report into gender disparity in Silicon Valley. Accounts of harassment are currently being compiled by the former attorney general Eric H Holder Jr, and findings are expected to be released on Tuesday, 13 June. Holder's recommendations for the company include a shakeup of Uber leadership - including a three-month leave of absence for Kalanick.
The Uber board of directors is said to have "unanimously voted to adopt all of the recommendations made in the report," according to the New York Times.
The focus on Uber's working practises arose after ex-Uber employee Susan Fowler accused the company of having a culture of sexual harassment, gender bias and prejudicial behaviour in a February 2017 blog post. So far, the investigation into Uber's harassment policies has led to the firing of more than 20 employees. Others are facing recommended training sessions or 'final warnings'.
Uber's board of directors has been directly linked to the mishandling or suppression of sexual harassment and inequality complaints. Uber executive Eric Alexander was fired on 7 June for mishandling the medical report of a woman who was raped by an Uber employee in India in 2014. According to anonymous sources, Alexander believed the claim of rape was part of a plan devised by rival ride-sharing firm Ola, and once he had obtained the medical records of the victim, he shared them with both Travis Kalanick and Uber's SVP of business, Emil Michael.
Kalanick himself proposed a leave of absence last month, after the death of his mother and hospitalisation of his father following a boating accident. His absence at this point in the Uber investigation leaves company leadership in a tenuous position - particularly amidst claims of his involvement in the company's systematic issues with inequality and harassment. However, it is worth noting that disciplinary actions against Uber executives have so far had mixed results.
Earlier this year, Uber’s general counsel recommended that Emil Michael take a leave of absence until the results of the Holder report were delivered. However, Michael did not step down. According to the Wall Street Journal, Michael is expected to resign tomorrow morning, but this has not yet been confirmed.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
