Uber’s Diversity Report is Out…And Guess What? It’s Horrible
Non-technical is okay:
Technical (often higher paying) is where things get brutal.
Why Justice is Important at Uber
With Uber leading the car rideshare market, it inherently is important to have diverse racial representation at this cooperation. Knowing the grip that this business has over the world, racialized groups would have someone to look up to at Uber if they were more diverse. If every child using Uber realized that they had the potential to be as innovative and influential as the company they see doing great things, there would be much less microinvalidation. Microaggression theory outlines a particular type of racial microaggression dubbed microinvalidation. It is a subtle environmental microaggression whereby the observer feels that he or she has a limit on their personal impact and power. When everyone who is accomplished in the observer’s environment is of Anglo Saxon descent for example, it would take someone who does not identify as white to work much harder to feel empowered enough to ever hope to one day see themselves in a position of influence (Sue et al., 2007). In this case, of all the hundreds of millions of people affected by Uber on a daily basis, it would ease some to have a member of the same race to look up to in order to help give them hope of being able to work at one of the top companies.
Uber‘s Leadership statistics.
At Google for instance, the leadership statistics are also published as follows:
By Molla, R. (2015). Diversity in Tech Companies. Retrieved April 08, 2016, from http://graphics.wsj.com/diversity-in-tech-companies/
This is very important.
As seen by the data, the more managerial and leader positions with the highest salaries and influence have the same effect of being dominated by whites and males, but amplified.
The non-leadership and lower paying tech or non-tech positions in contrast have more racialized groups present.
This is troubling because racism is a combination of prejudice and power (Thomas and C. Novogrodsky, 1983), so if there is even a little bias held by people at high levels of management, its effect is magnified based on how high in influence that person is in the company. This can lead to a dispersion of policies and practices that have the fallacies of democratic racism.
Women At Uber?
Women are decently represented at Uber but that doesn’t mean they will be all treated in a welcome manner.
Entrepreneur Sarah Lacy tweeted:
As wikipedia says,
“Binders full of women” is a phrase used by Mitt Romney on October 16, 2012 during the second U.S. presidential debate of 2012. Romney used the phrase in response to a question about pay equality, referring to binders with resumes of female job applicants submitted to him as Governor of Massachusetts. The awkward phrase was seen by many as demeaning and tone deaf toward women in general causing a backlash and mockery.
Mitt Romney doesn’t have the best PR when it comes to women. Coupled with Uber’s Sexual Harassment Allegations…This is why Uber was compared to Mitt.
Former engineer Susan Fowler’s claims that the company blatantly mishandled sexual harassment.
A flood of stories detailing Uber’s toxic culture were released. All the while, a second #DeleteUber campaign was gaining steam and former Attorney General Eric Holder was being brought in to probe Fowler’s allegations.
More on that below.
Diversity?
When considering why there is a diversity issue, there are many things to be examined. Firstly, the west coast of America is known for being widely liberal. A concept called “Democratic racism” can flourish where “dominative racism” doesn’t. The former is not dominative over people en masse, but perhaps aversive in small doses at high level of management.
The issues do not begin at the hiring phase, but before the recruitment phase. This is because Uber not only has an obligation to find talent by looking everywhere, they must realize that not everyone has the equal opportunity to attend the top schools or events that Uber recruits most heavily at. The company has acquired some infamy by heavily recruiting at Ivy league schools. “My daughter hired on at Google in 2007 after graduating from Harvard. Her hiring group of 30 or so were almost exclusively Ivy.” as quoted from a Business Insider article. This is a risky strategy that permeates silicon valley because as an article written by The Atlantic said (Hayes, 2014), Ivy League schools “do not necessarily provide the most competitive mentorship, rigorous curriculum, and financial support”. Enrollment in the top Ivy league schools is not always a reflection of pure ability to succeed at a career at one of the world’s biggest tech companies. Although this was 2007 and the bias may be lessening, Ivy League schools are still amongst the most respected.
Apple gets the point. They know where they stood and are working towards solving the problem with the focus on recent hiring trend.
A Greater Problem?
Some of the reasons why this issue is deeper than Uber’s diversity statement makes it initially seem is because Uber has a diversity problem that exceeds the scope of Uber. Silicon valley, an area in California known as the technology capital of the world, has a diversity problem itself and negative attitudes towards diverse colleges. An in-depth article by Vauhini Vara at Bloomberg explains how Silicon Valley and many technology companies birthed there have adopted to a tech culture that homogeneously consists of Caucasians and Asians with a similar backstory. There are a plethora of Stanford and MIT graduates who have interned, won competitions, and interned at various companies at young ages. At Howard, a University in the US with many black students, several computer science students have not been coding for that duration. The culture difference between Silicon Valley were also dissimilar in the fact it was more intensive than Howard.
“Numerous advanced classes at Howard and other black colleges weren’t as rigorous or up-to-date as they were at Carnegie Mellon or Stanford”.
Worst of all, when three Howard students were coached for Google interviews, and got selected for an internship, it was made clear that Google didn’t give their engineers any positive reinforcement to teach at Howard. The article stated that “taking the gig was liable to hurt an engineer, pulling him out of the evaluation and promotion cycle.” A lack of interest for Howard was prevalent. In short, there were brilliant minds at Howard, but because of curriculum and cultural differences from Silicon Valley, the Howard computer science department, as with the computer science faculties of many black schools are not as widely respected.
There is a lot of talk about Google here, but as a tech leader — sets a precedence for companies like Uber and the environment is set for a similar narrative to take place.
Possible Solutions
While it is great that money may be spent on diversity and PR, now is an opportune time to deal with subconscious bias right now. Resume whitening, a technique of removing every reference to one’s race if it’s not of European origin, is a technique that has been proven to work. In a study, it has been proven significantly increased callback rates from companies in general (Keung, 2016). Adopting a nameless resume submission protocol can be a great way of removing the pressure of worrying about subconscious biases from applicants and employers alike for the time being. This, in combination with using an algorithmic engine to search for qualified applicants are viable techniques that need to be experimented with since machines have no bias (Lam, 2015).
Noting the diversity problem, Uber is indeed fighting the fight to to bring equity, and they are winning the fight in helping communities outside its employee base get exposure to business and tech via the following initiatives
UberHUE
Our goal is to provide a channel that promotes Black diversity, culture, and inclusion for all employees at Uber.
Women of Uber
Our goal is to provide a channel that promotes women’s inclusion for all employees at Uber (e.g. women in tech, mentorship, career enhancement).
Los Ubers
Creating a diverse and inclusive Hispanic and Latino experience for all Uber employees.
UberVETERANS
Our goal is to provide a channel that promotes the inclusion of veterans for all employees at Uber.
UberPRIDE
Our goal is to promote LGBTQ inclusion and diversity here at Uber.
UberABLE
Our goal is to strengthen and sustain diversity and inclusion efforts for employees living with and supporting those with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities.
Shalom
Our goal is to make the world a little smaller, by connecting Uberettos and Jewbers from all backgrounds, encouraging collaboration and closeness from all corners of the globe.
Asian Diversity Group
Our goal is to provide a channel that promotes Asian diversity, culture, and inclusion for all employees at Uber.
Parenting at Uber
Broadening the conversation around being an Uber parent.
Unfortunately Indian, Sikh, African Americans, and others aren’t represented (even though they are fairly prominent in the PR images), but hopefully the gap will be filled.
Uber said,
In the last three months, we’ve brought on board our Chief Human Resources Officer and our Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion, both of whom have hit the ground running with the strong support of the company’s leadership. Their growing teams are working with our employee resource groups to develop plans for increasing the number of employees from underrepresented groups and building programs that foster inclusion so that diversity and inclusion is woven into our values and culture.
Will this new hire do more good for the internal dynamics of the company than for Uber’s PR?
Is This Damage Control?
As the others say, Kalanick/the cooperation is sabotaging itself under a series of PR-damaging effects. The events at Uber are real events driven and caused by the proven actions a few individuals at Uber. One however must question how “dense” or packed together these events are. Clearly they are real events, however.
The last 14 days have been for Uber have been brutal. To summarize,
Sexual Harassment Allegations…
Former engineer Susan Fowler’s claims that the company blatantly mishandled sexual harassment.
A flood of stories detailing Uber’s toxic culture were released. All the while, a second #DeleteUber campaign was gaining steam and former Attorney General Eric Holder was being brought in to probe Fowler’s allegations.
Then, Uber’s SVP of engineering, Amit Singhai left the company. Travis Kalanick asked him to resign after learning that Singhai failed to disclose a sexual harassment allegation made against him at Google — his former employer. At the time, Singhai framed his resignation as a retirement and still denies the allegations.
That same day…
Emails obtained by The Verge showed that Uber ignored repeated requests from the California DMV to register its autonomous car program with the state, even as it was rolling out the service in San Francisco.
One day later (Tuesday), a video emerged
In his latest scandal, he got caught shouting, “[Some people] blame everything in their life on others” to an Uber driver.
I wrote in this article,
I believe as Uber’s CEO stated, it’s important to not “blame the world’s problems on others”. On the other side of that coin, it’s equally important to not put all the credit toward’s yourself. He seems to do this too much. Leaning on one side of this idea too heavily can lead to an imbalanced worldview where either you feel that your socioeconomic situation is 100% your doing. I hope business leaders understand the implications of this and how it trickles down to work culture.
48 hours later…
A report emerged proving that Uber had used an elaborate secret program, known as Greyball, to hide from government regulators. In short, they used a fake version of the app to evade authorities. Oh yeah, and that same day, the company’s VP of Product and Growth, Ed Baker, stepped down after employees complained about his “questionable behavior.”
Who’s behind Uber’s bad PR and all this?
Lyft began raising more money during these scandals which is an extremely smart move on their part and yet more bad PR for Uber.
Uber has been heavily growth focused with Travis. This was growth that the company needs, but He should move to a role of pushing the company towards profitability and stability and let Zimmer take over as the public face for Uber to get a culture focus.
What happened? In my opinion #DeleteUber and the feminist movement after Trump’s election may be paired somehow to the rage against sexual harassment, however these events are real with proven emails. Uber is known for it’s power and influence, Lyft is known for it’s culture, so this isn’t anything new.
The Verge article about vehical registration is not a surpise, Uber is known for cut-throat business/growth strategies. As for the video, the driver was clearly enraged, and in the midst of the drama, why not add a cherry to the ice cream?
Delete Uber caused:
200,000 customers to delete their Uber accounts in protest of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick’s perceived support for President Trump, the New York Times reports.
The momentum of bad PR since #deleteuber is a driving force of user backlash. Conversely, Lyft is known for their culture focus and more tame PR, so naturally, Lyft isn’t under scrutiny like uber is so the market share will change. See Consumers lash out at Uber and turn to Lyft after Uber’s immigration response
I personally think that if you were to conspire, you may conclude that there were defectors who are either angry at Uber via the #deleteuber movement and Lyft investor or “spies” who want to damage Uber, it’s possible, but so far it’s difficult to find proof supporting such claims. Many of the bad PR is very employee-driven.
Finally, all of this is a snowball effect. Reminiscent of the Crosby scandal, the more people rise up and gain publicity, the more others feel empowered to do the same (whether they are defectors or not). People usually aim to take the path of least resistance.
Evidence of a toxic work environment
Uber’s Loss Exceeds $800 Million in Third Quarter on $1.7 Billion in Net Revenue
How Many People Use Uber and 57 Amazing Uber Statistics
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick Apologies for the Company’s Culture Post Sexual Harassment Claims
What perfect timing to release the diversity report.
What Now?
To end, we discover that Uber may have succumbed to some democratic racism fallacies. They also see hiring with a more individualist lens which causes Uber to run short on collective guilt. Due to the far-reaching web of oppression racism can be blamed for, in order for companies to recruit to all groups, they must invest in outreach to school communities that are predisposed to not being exposed to working in a technology job setting.
Although Ivy league college and university degrees are a great selling point for an employer, tech companies need to are do well to realize the potential in disadvantaged communities. I encourage Uber to seek disadvantaged schools and groups with as much ferocity as propose with their initiatives.
Spending money on intensive diversity training, I believe they need to go the extra mile and investigate in nameless resumes and more algorithmic recruitment methods to rid themselves of unconscious bias. While it is ideal that all technically skilled people groups should be able contribute to Uber with equal opportunity, an honest discussion about racism in tech companies are crucial to take part in because bias this industry determines which segment of the population contributes to the future of human technology. Ignoring the problem of racism may lead to worldwide consequences.
Update 03–30–2017:
An Uber Engineer reached out to me with some good news:
Readers: Want to be an Entrepreneur?
I’m freely giving out a hefty package of notes from Silicon Valley CEOs, to MBA’s on how to start a startup.
Over 50 Docs of Notes! (How to Market, Pitch and More in 50+documents)
Resources
https://www.uber.com/info/diversity/
http://www.apple.com/diversity/
Milian, B. M. (2014). The Silicon Valley Diversity Numbers Nobody Is Proud Of. Retrieved April 06, 2016, from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-12/the-silicon-valley-diversity-numbers-nobody-is-proud-of.html
Vara, V. (2016, January). Why Doesn’t Silicon Valley Hire Black Coders? Retrieved April 06, 2016, from http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-howard-university-coders/
Molla, R. (2015). Diversity in Tech Companies. Retrieved April 08, 2016, from http://graphics.wsj.com/diversity-in-tech-companies/
Google Inc. (2015). Diversity — Google. Retrieved April 08, 2016, from http://www.google.ca/diversity/
Temple, J. (2009). Google talent search: Error 502? Retrieved April 08, 2016, from http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2009/10/30/google-talent-search-error-502/
Hayes, R. (2014). Retrieved April 08, 2016, from http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/02/why-ivy-league-schools-are-so-bad-at-economic-diversity/284076/
Henry, F., Rees, T., & Tator, C. (2010). The colour of democracy: Racism in Canadian society. Toronto: Nelson Education.
Keung, N. (2016). Jobseekers resort to ‘resumé whitening’ to get a foot in the door, study shows | Toronto Star. Retrieved April 08, 2016, from http://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2016/03/17/jobseekers-resort-to-resum-whitening-to-get-a-foot-in-the-door-study-shows.html “A federal judge in California hinted that a parenting Web site that’s suing Google over a poor ranking in the search giant’s massive index would be able to proceed with its lawsuit.”
LAM, B. (2015). Retrieved April 08, 2016, from http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/06/algorithm-hiring-diversity-HR/396374/
Lund, D. E., & Carr, P. R. (2001). Revisiting The Great White North? Reframing Whiteness, Privilege, and Identity in Education (Second Edition).
Donadey, A. (2002). Project MUSE — Negotiating Tensions: Teaching About Race Issues in Graduate Feminist Classrooms. Retrieved April 08, 2016, from https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/nwsa_journal/v014/14.1donadey.html
