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Some Uber Employees Balk at Travis Kalanick’s Exit

nytimes.com

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Re: Some Uber Employees Balk at Travis Kalanick’s Exit

#31

Post by athanas »

cocktailpeanuts wrote: post #12

I'm sure it's not "some" but a lot of employees, but most are afraid to speak out just because they have seen what happens to people who advocate for someone who's down. I know for a fact that a lot of Uber employees nowadays can't talk freely outside about the fact that they work at Uber, when they used to be proud to talk about it just a couple of years ago. I also know that many employees at Uber (men or women) ar…

It's somehow symptomatic that two of the eloquent replies below are:

"Some of us think that the similarities Uber has to other tech companies in this area is an indictment of these other companies, not an excuse for Uber."

and

"Uber is not just like every other company. That's seriously some "boys will be boys" type thinking to excuse the messed up behavior of a certain few."

It seems interesting (and characteristic of bellicose group discourse) that either of these arguments, which of course contradict each other perfectly, will do as well as the other. I think you hear each of them about as much. But generally not in the same place and never by the same person.

Re: Some Uber Employees Balk at Travis Kalanick’s Exit

#32

Post by davidf18 »

This FB post is referred to in the article, written by a woman who is very, very supportive of TK: https://www.facebook.com/margaretann.seger/posts/10214004058...

1000 people have "liked" the posting including Zuckerberg and a number of women have commented in support of TK.

EDIT:

This is from the FB poster, Margaret-Ann Seger. Other women seem to confirm her perspective. If it were truly a sexist culture as was claimed then you wouldn’t be seeing these testimonials. It suggests that despite everything, something else is going on.

“Thank you for creating a culture where- as a woman- it was okay to, no, encouraged to speak up. This is one of my oft less-told anecdotes, but I feel it's appropriate given the circumstances. Before Uber, I was at Facebook. I left Facebook because I was told that I was too aggressive. Pushing too hard, wanting to move too fast, challenging the status quo a bit too much. The amazing part is that coming to Uber was like a homecoming. I could be who I truly am, without being labeled an "aggressive" woman. I could push on assumptions, move quickly, do whatever work needed to be done whether it was "in my area" or not, question leadership in an open, earnest environment. It was like a breath of fresh air. I don't think people realize how unique this is. This company truly listens to every voice, from the VPs all the way down to the junior PMs like myself. Thank you. Thank you for listening and creating an environment where the best answer truly does win.”

Re: Some Uber Employees Balk at Travis Kalanick’s Exit

#33

Post by jacquesm »

CalChris wrote: post #20
jph wrote: post #5

Uber is in a difficult position. On the one hand, Kalanick has built a massive company. On the other hand, Holder's investigation turned up serious problems with the work culture. And employees, drivers, and investors are caught between these. To understand it from the inside, the best source I've seen is Susan Fowler's post "Reflecting on one very strange year at Uber". https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/re…

A massive unprofitable company. Anyone can do that. Anyone.

Tbh I couldn't. For one I wouldn't be comfortable doing it and for another it takes great courage to take on a project this size. So I couldn't do it for these two reasons alone and probably many others (skills) besides.

Re: Some Uber Employees Balk at Travis Kalanick’s Exit

#34

Post by hijohnnylin »

cocktailpeanuts wrote: post #12

I'm sure it's not "some" but a lot of employees, but most are afraid to speak out just because they have seen what happens to people who advocate for someone who's down. I know for a fact that a lot of Uber employees nowadays can't talk freely outside about the fact that they work at Uber, when they used to be proud to talk about it just a couple of years ago. I also know that many employees at Uber (men or women) ar…

"It's kind of sad that the Internet has become optimized for this type of witch hunt."

i don't understand why this statement was included. the internet is optimized for all sorts of things. also, before the internet, print/paper was "optimized" for witch hunts. and before that, there were literal witch hunts. it has been plenty optimal.

if there's proof, it's not a witch hunt. when david bonderman implied that women talk too much, that's not a witch hunt. here's a bunch more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/18/uber-trav...

i think you might be trying to say there's excessive PREJUDICE against people who work at Uber who have nothing to do with the sexual harassment, etc. but even on that level, it's unclear how much blame you should get if you remain complicit and support a group you know is willfully ignorant of issues like harassment. just because you and the person in the cubicle next to yours don't experience harassment doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Re: Some Uber Employees Balk at Travis Kalanick’s Exit

#35

Post by [deleted] »

athanas wrote: post #31
cocktailpeanuts wrote: post #12

I'm sure it's not "some" but a lot of employees, but most are afraid to speak out just because they have seen what happens to people who advocate for someone who's down. I know for a fact that a lot of Uber employees nowadays can't talk freely outside about the fact that they work at Uber, when they used to be proud to talk about it just a couple of years ago. I also know that many employees at Uber (men or women) ar…

It's somehow symptomatic that two of the eloquent replies below are: "Some of us think that the similarities Uber has to other tech companies in this area is an indictment of these other companies, not an excuse for Uber." and "Uber is not just like every other company. That's seriously some "boys will be boys" type thinking to excuse the messed up behavior of a certain few." It seems interesting (and characteristic…

[deleted]

Re: Some Uber Employees Balk at Travis Kalanick’s Exit

#36

Post by williamscales »

prostoalex wrote: post #30
ivanbakel wrote: post #18

Interesting to see how all the positive evaluations of him come from his contributions to the company. Nobody defends his character or his moral decisions. Does working hard absolve you of misdeeds?

The question open to debate is whether one can succeed in the taxi business without being a brash, assertive a-hole, whose opponents include brash, assertive taxicab medallion owners and drivers as well as politicians bought by them. Even Lyft's current expansion was somewhat facilitated by Uber coming to town and strong-arming the municipality into legalizing ride-sharing.

I am think many people would consider it somewhat okay to be a brash assertive asshole to other brash assertive assholes. But that doesn't mean one has to be a brash assertive asshole to the female employees collectively.

Re: Some Uber Employees Balk at Travis Kalanick’s Exit

#37

Post by cakedoggie »

CalChris wrote: post #20
jph wrote: post #5

Uber is in a difficult position. On the one hand, Kalanick has built a massive company. On the other hand, Holder's investigation turned up serious problems with the work culture. And employees, drivers, and investors are caught between these. To understand it from the inside, the best source I've seen is Susan Fowler's post "Reflecting on one very strange year at Uber". https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/re…

A massive unprofitable company. Anyone can do that. Anyone.

Go one then.

Re: Some Uber Employees Balk at Travis Kalanick’s Exit

#38

Post by fizwhiz »

askafriend wrote: post #21
ensiferum wrote: post #7

15k employees and this number obv doesn't include the drivers. Seriously?! What do they all do?

People says this for literally every company and it's getting fairly annoying that so many people can't see how a global operations-heavy company that does business in 200+ countries and develops an incredibly complex product can require a lot of resources....it's almost like people who ask this question have never worked on scaling a real business before. I mean theres everything from marketing, to customer support,…

relevant: https://danluu.com/sounds-easy/

Re: Some Uber Employees Balk at Travis Kalanick’s Exit

#39

Post by namesbc »

cocktailpeanuts wrote: post #12

I'm sure it's not "some" but a lot of employees, but most are afraid to speak out just because they have seen what happens to people who advocate for someone who's down. I know for a fact that a lot of Uber employees nowadays can't talk freely outside about the fact that they work at Uber, when they used to be proud to talk about it just a couple of years ago. I also know that many employees at Uber (men or women) ar…

I don't understand how you can both state that Uber isn't good, but also want us to stop working to make Uber and the rest of tech better?

Many companies, like Uber, have a hostile work environment for 50% of the workforce, and that is bad for everyone!

If you are not a target of the hostility, and you want to think about it selfishly, We are losing out on millions of our best minds until we solve this.

Re: Some Uber Employees Balk at Travis Kalanick’s Exit

#40

Post by creepydata »

cocktailpeanuts wrote: post #12

I'm sure it's not "some" but a lot of employees, but most are afraid to speak out just because they have seen what happens to people who advocate for someone who's down. I know for a fact that a lot of Uber employees nowadays can't talk freely outside about the fact that they work at Uber, when they used to be proud to talk about it just a couple of years ago. I also know that many employees at Uber (men or women) ar…

Witches? Nazis?

Seriously!?!

So you are saying it someone says "I work at Uber, it's not much different than any other tech company" they will be burned at the steak?

Your rank-and-file employees are not even going to get much more than a "oh really?" when they say "I work at Uber." I used to work for a company that is pretty shady that the majority of people has a very negative opinion on, much more so than Uber. When I said I worked there to others nobody said much of note and certainly nothing like "you're a Nazi." Actually, I take that back, one person said "I could never work there" and I replied with "I can understand why you'd feel that way." That was it!

Even if someone says something, receiving some very mild criticism for holding an unpopular opinion is not the end of the world, it's called life. It's not a witch hunt and you're not some sort of victim.

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