Uber: Addressing Alcohol To Improve Workplace
Uber, the location-based app to offer on-demand private drivers, has been in the news for a chaotic and dysfunctional workplace culture.
Accounts of sexism, harassment and misogyny in the tech start up have been many over the years. Pervasiveness of the problem became public with the publication of a New York Times investigation and the release of a 13-page report providing detailed analysis and making a total of 47 recommendations to turn the culture and ethics at Uber around.
The recommendations span from ways to improve diversity and tougher performance reviews for executives to addressing alcohol-fueled culture of objectification and sexualization of women.
New alcohol guidelines
As part of the report commissioned from former US attorney general Eric Holder and his law firm Uber laid out new guidelines for alcohol at work and company events.
- Uber will now prohibit use of alcohol and other drugs “during core work hours, at work events, or at other work-sponsored events.”
- Uber will also cut back its alcohol budget for parties, reduce alcohol inside the office, and limit when it reimburses managers for alcohol purchased at events outside the office.
- The report recommends that Uber also stop making alcohol the focal point of work parties.
Improving workplace culture and ethics
The Holder-report recommendations are set to introduce major changes at Uber, a company that has long been fueled by partying and lavish employee retreats that have involved heavy alcohol consumption, drugs, and sex.
A New York Times investigation by Mike Isaac into Uber’s workplace ethics had detailed the company’s culture of sexism and misogyny. Former employees told the New York Times that they had notified Uber’s senior leadership of workplace harassment.
We are totally committed to healing wounds of the past and building a better workplace culture for everyone,” said Uber’s Chief Human Resources Officer Liane Hornsey in a statement to Business Insider.