Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Uber CEO on federal probe: ‘Sometimes it takes a punch in the face’

Uber’s top executive says there might be fire under all the smoke.

After reports that the company is under federal investigation for gender discrimination, as well as the departure of HR chief Liane Hornsey following claims she mishandled complaints of racial discrimination, the company is now conceding it has work to do to become the company it wants to be.

The news of the federal probe, first reported in The Wall Street Journal, was picked up by many outlets.

ABC reported:

The company is being sued by former software engineer Ingrid Avendaño, who claims she experienced sexual harassment, racial discrimination and pay inequity. Avendaño left before Khosrowshahi took over.

Uber said in August that it adjusted salaries to ensure all employees -- regardless of gender or race -- are paid equally based on their location, job and tenure in the role. Uber also re-evaluated employee salaries after bonuses were paid out in March.

Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi extolled the changes the company has introduced over the last months at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech Conference.

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Business Insider reported:

He said he was proud of the work his team has done cleaning up its reputation "externally" in places like London, where Uber had been kicked out right when Khosrowshahi took over as CEO. It is now back in London's good graces.

But when asked about the high-profile resignation of its head of HR, Liane Hornsey, last week, following an investigation into how she handled concerns about racial-discrimination, he said, "In hindsight, I didn't work as much as I had to internally. Sometimes it takes a punch in the face. This was a rough week."

Uber also issued an official statement.

The Verge reported:

“We are continually improving as a company and have proactively made a lot of changes in the last 18 months, including implementing a new salary and equity structure based on the market, overhauling our performance review process, publishing Diversity & Inclusion reports, and rolling out diversity and leadership trainings to thousands of employees globally,” a spokesperson for Uber said in a statement to The Verge. (The most recent diversity report, Uber’s second ever and the first since Khosrowshahi took over, showed marginal improvements when it was released in April.)

Despite the assault on multiple fronts, Khosrowshahi attempted to keep the many questions about the company separate.

The Verge continued:

“All of those were very, very different circumstances. The EEOC issue, while I can’t talk much about it, has been going on for a long period of time, and happened to show up in the press at this point,” Khosrowshahi said about the gender discrimination investigation. The CEO said he held an all-hands meeting Monday morning, where he initially considered complaining about the leaks to the WSJ. Instead, he said, he realized that “what’s coming out in the news is a symptom, and it’s a symptom for us of a company that doesn’t yet, at all levels — at all levels — really, really trust that we’re going to do the right thing, not only externally, but also internally.”

Rebuilding its reputation seems daunting. Nearly every story about Uber’s current troubles references the mess it faced under the leadership of founder Travis Kalanick.

The New York Times wrote:

The investigation shows how difficult it has been for Uber to move past its tumultuous 2017. The company faced numerous accusations of workplace sex discrimination and harassment last year, as well as allegations of illegal behavior by its executives, such as spying on and stealing secrets from rivals. The scandals forced out Uber’s co-founder and chief executive, Travis Kalanick. His successor, Dara Khosrowshahi, has pledged to reform the company.

What do you think about how Uber is talking about its ongoing investigations?

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