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Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

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Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

#171

Post by unityByFreedom »

knucklesandwich wrote: post #133
calcsam wrote: post #15

In case anyone isn't sure why the original interaction is harassment: relationships within a reporting chain are generally prohibited, for both legal, ethical, and practical reasons. Sex becoming part of the effective job description crosses both legal and ethical lines, and team effectiveness is hindered when people wonder whether someone is getting special treatment because they're sleeping with the boss. A manager…

Tech workers (across all disciplines) need to unionize to combat this kind of thing. As has been pointed out below, HR that is staffed and incentivized by the company management only serves the interests of the management. A union is the only structure that can actually win demands for workers by organizing workers to withhold their labor. It's not a panacea, and there are several historical examples of union leaders…

That speaks to me. After salary negotiations, HR within companies has never done anything for me when I approached them.

They seemed to be there only to defend the boss and register me as a complainer. It took me several jobs and this post to learn that.

Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

#172

Post by uber_031917 »

Uber employee here.

This was a disheartening story to read to say the least. I hope that she sues as her case is abundantly clear and the response by HR and the management chain was absolutely unacceptable. If what happened is true, they should be held accountable.

Unfortunately, from my perspective, Uber has a track record of lack of accountability when it comes to leadership/managers. Pretty much everyone I know at Uber believes that Josh Mohrer [1] and Emil Michael [2] should have been fired. It's probably fair to say both are generally regarded as being high performers, but what they did was extremely damaging to the reputation of the company and the fact they weren't held accountable only worsens that reputation.

I think that generally Uber is a positive influence in the world. It has created work opportunities for millions essentially out of thin air has fundamentally changed how people think about transportation in cities for the better. Uber is certainly disruptive and its methods and behavior have been brash at times which has often resulted in a disproportionate amount of scrutiny, both deserved (comments and actions targeting journalists, sexism) and otherwise ("support" of Trump, #deleteuber, and surge price "gouging"). For me, Uber is still a place filled with many talented people working on interesting, challenging problems. But a story like this is a tough pill to swallow.

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-11-25/colleague...

[2] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-11-19/uber-said...

Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

#173

Post by bsaul »

exolymph wrote: post #159
bsaul wrote: post #124

Clearly there's a problem in that company, but maybe some woman working in the US could answer to me : why isn't just answering to the first mail " sorry, not interested" then keep working there not an option ? to me, the term "harassment" means repetitive, morally painful actions from a boss to his employee. Obviously the guy has a huge problem with his sex life, but why report to HR instantly , instead of trying to…

Would you be okay with it if you started a new job and your boss instantly propositioned you?

Of course not, but i'll just tell her / him i'm not interested, and see if the person's keep insisting and make my life at work miserable, or if he's just a desperate person having a very bad day...

There are many reason why someone would be a pain to work with honestly. I could imagine someone insisting on people going to drink after work being a pita for a muslim for example, or a guy talking all the time about politics and having different views than myself, etc, etc. But it seems like sex is handled extremely differently than the rest, and i'd like to understand if, in practice, there are reason for that (other than the subject itself being extremely sensitive in the US compared to some european countries, for example).

Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

#174

Post by unityByFreedom »

TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #155
knucklesandwich wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tech workers (across all disciplines) need to unionize to combat this kind of thing. As has been pointed out below, HR that is staffed and incentivized by the company management only serves the interests of the management. A union is the only structure that can actually win demands for workers by organizing workers to withhold their labor. It's not a panacea, and there are several historical examples of union leaders…

The problem is that workers don't have leverage like they used to due to globalization and a general labor surplus. We need to think of something that would work better than a union.

What? It's literally your right to vote to join a union. If a majority of coworkers vote for one, you've got a union. Look up the National Labor Relations Act.

Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

#176

Post by kbenson »

The saddest thing about this to me is that she decided to stay for so long, and let the incidents stack up. I'm not sure if that's indicative of her personality, or what women in the industry have come to expect, and thus have a much higher tolerance for bullshit of this caliber. Unfortunately, from the repeated stories we hear I suspect it's the latter, and that's fucking tragic.

Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

#177

Post by cbanek »

jacquesm wrote: post #158
cbanek wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't either, but I mean, that's a very typical reason for people leaving near 1 year after a startup. And I'm almost certain Uber is offering some kind of equity package to engineers.

Sure, but until there is a liquid market that's worth $0. Who will you sell your newly vested shares to?

It's not worth $0. At least not according to the IRS. But you're right, it's certainly a big gamble, although every year people rumor that Uber is going to go public.

Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

#178

Post by jacquesm »

BinaryIdiot wrote: post #139

I may have experienced a little bit of sexual harassment in my youth when working at a local McDonald's but, being a guy, it was the only time and I was able to put a stop to be rather quickly. However, being in software engineering for the past 12 years, I have seen the sexual harassment of several women all of which never saw a proper resolution. For instance I worked at a small company that was later bought by a l…

> sexual women

Unfortunate typo there.

Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

#179

Post by svachalek »

bsaul wrote: post #124

Clearly there's a problem in that company, but maybe some woman working in the US could answer to me : why isn't just answering to the first mail " sorry, not interested" then keep working there not an option ? to me, the term "harassment" means repetitive, morally painful actions from a boss to his employee. Obviously the guy has a huge problem with his sex life, but why report to HR instantly , instead of trying to…

Under standard American business ethics, and most state laws if I'm not mistaken, such a request from a person with control over your job is an abuse of power and automatically over the harassment line. (This is probably true everywhere in the world but perhaps not recognized as such.) Any American manager would know this and would have no excuse. You don't wave a gun around at work because you're having "a bad day" and you don't write stuff like this. At a company with any ethical backbone, he'd have been pushed out the door so fast they might have forgotten to open it first.

Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

#180

Post by Herald_MJ »

jannettee wrote: post #145
twblalock wrote: post #2

If you are sexually harassed, and HR doesn't do anything about it, you should sue. Don't expect HR to change. If the stories in this article are true, and if the evidence is as strong as the article says it is, this is a slam-dunk case for sexual harassment, hostile work environment, retaliation, etc.

Uber's employment contract includes an agreement that you won't take them to court.

Is that legally enforceable?
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