Uber CHRO Email To Staff.
Uber CHRO Email To Staff.
Uber CHRO Email To Staff.
Hi everyone,
As you know the Board accepted all the recommendations from Covington and Burling this
weekend. These recommendations are critical for two key reasons: they reinforce the need
for change in the areas you identified; and they shine a spotlight on areas that we have to
tackle, with urgency and sincerity. We have a lot of work ahead of us but what makes our
journey forward easier is that:
We have buy-in and investment from leaders. Every leader I talk to wants to be part
of making Uber a truly great company for everyonebe that employees, riders or
drivers.
Collectively, we all want this. Passion, drive, energy and a commitment to action
built this companyand passion, drive and energy will take us forward together.
These changes are a result of your fearlessness and tenacity in raising issues. I am
committed to keeping the channels of communication open, and taking action on
your feedback.
When we started this process I gave you my word that we would be transparent, and that
we would involve you, and that will continue. Thousands of employees around the world
have sent me ideas, feedback, actions and insights. You participated in listening sessions,
focus groups and surveys to help us understand the issues, so that we could tackle them
head-on. We have a lot of work to do, but Im optimistic that were on the right track.
Below I have outlined each one of the recommendations that included a specific reference to
people and processes. I will update the company every month on progress against these
priorities, both what we have to do, and where we have already made progress. Broadly
speaking, most of them map to what we heard in the listening sessions.
You can also find all of this content on our Uber 2.0 Teamdot site which you can visit on a
regular basis for updates to progress.
D. Increase the Profile of Ubers Head of Diversity and the Efforts of His
Organization.
To help make progress on all this, weve already increased the size of the D&I team under
Bernards leadership. We will now hire a Chief Diversity Officer who will report directly to the
COO or CEO.
V. Training
A. Mandatory Leadership Training For Key Senior Management/Senior Executive
Team Members.
We hired Frances Frei who will act as a coach to the leadership team. She will focus on
creating a more cohesive and connected A-team. In addition, all leaders will adhere to the
Business Conduct Guide.
We also kicked off our Meridian Project to define the qualities that make managers great at
Uber. Over the past few weeks, the team has been been pulling together insights from
across the business, including 1:1 interviews, a company wide survey, focus groups, and
working sessions. We now know the manager qualities and behaviors that we need in order
to hire and develop great managers so they can support us to do our best work.
Weve also introduced a new coaching curriculum called EMPOWER that equips managers
with the coaching skills they need to develop their teams at an individual level, and provides
reinforcing tools and content over several months. Created with input from Ops leaders, this
process focuses on helping managers leverage coaching techniques in real time to support
their direct reports growth and career success. EMPOWER began its pilot with US & CAN
Ops managers on May 24. If the pilot goes well we will roll out the program with care across
the next 18 months.
C. Provide a Robust and Effective Complaint Process & D. Establish Protocols with
Respect to Escalating Complaints.
It is imperative that we have an effective, trusted and credible complaints system for
employees to escalate issues. To support this, as both Angela and I said today, we will
retain the Integrity Helpline to ensure that every person at Uber has a place to go to raise
issues anonymously. In addition, over the next three months we will double the size of the
Employee Relations team in every region. This is an independent team that reports directly
to me and acts confidentially to ensure that every complaint received is reviewed and
investigated thoroughly. We will also add a HelpLine.
I want to be super clear, we are building a process that gives employees the ability to report
issues, manage issues, and escalate concerns appropriately, and with confidence in the
process. You have my absolute commitment on this. We will not fail you again. We will also
add resources to include: consistent PIP templates, templates for reporting misconduct, and
termination guidelines for managers, which were developing now.
Sometimes life is stressful, and you need support, or just someone to listen. We extended
our counseling programs to provide 24/7 support, and started to pilot onsite counselors for
sessions five days a week in San Francisco at no cost to employees, with a view to
expanding this globally.
Were also announcing changes to things that seem small, but were important to so many of
you. Were also introducing "Care" rooms in each SF office. A care room is a single
occupancy/multi-purpose room that an employee can use to meditate, pray, etc. We are in
the process of creating a playbook so that teams around the world can implement their own
Care rooms too.
AND we heard you loud and clear on Uber Credits. Effective July 1, we will be changing the
New Uber Credits program (for those who received offers after Jan 4, 2016) to grant a
monthly lump sum with the total value equivalent to 15 Uber rides in their city. Details can
be found on the Employee Credits Teamdot page.
K. Coordinate Efforts.
Following recommendations from Covington, if any offices are engaging in their own
independent diversity efforts, we will require that all offices obtain approval through the
Head of Diversity. This will help to coordinate efforts throughout the organization so we are
being really strategic in how we are managing diversity and inclusion. As I said today I do
not know any company that is doing a brilliant job at this -- I want Uber to be the first.
It is now clearer to me than ever that the world of work is not a level playing-field. We do
have to provide additional support for women and underrepresented groups to ensure that
we become the most attractive company to work for for all. We will also launch a Leadership
Program for Professional Development for women and people of color and a version of the
Flagship program for individual contributors.
As part of leveling that playing field, as you know we also committed the invest $3MM over
three years to support organizations working to bring more women and underrepresented
groups into tech. Well be updating you on where that investment is going later this month,
which already included taking your feedback into account.
Weve also taken important steps to make sure everyone feels welcome. For example, we
updated Workday so that employees and EXTs may now select their preferred pronouns to
ensure respect for each individuals identity which will help cultivate an environment that is
inclusive of all people, and increased our gender-neutral bathrooms globally.
C. Institute and Enforce Clear Guidelines on Alcohol Consumption and the Use of
Controlled Substances
Were going to be taking a look at setting some guidelines around consuming alcohol at
work and regarding after-hours events sponsored by Uber.
We all agree the Perf process is not easy to fix, but we can do it together, and youve given
us very clear feedback on what you want to see:
Personal Goal Setting: This will reduce the inherent subjectivity in Perf. Clear goals
set every quarter/half year will provide a sense of achievement. Whats more adding
goals around citizenship and management will help us focus on the how in addition
to the what, and I believe promote a greater purpose at work.
Continuous Feedback: Managers must provide feedback more often to eliminate
surprises throughout the year and to make Perf lighter.
Elimination of Subjectivity and Biases: In addition to having clear goals, we need
more/different checks and balances for ratings, compensation and promotions.
Clearer Promotion Expectations and Guidelines: Promotions must be business-driven
and consistent. We will work to achieve this by year-end for sure.
No Forced Curve: If the Perf process is based on the right data and qualitative inputs
it should drive outcomes and the right performance rating without a forced
performance curve. We do not need to be competitive with each other.
More Transparent Compensation Outcomes: It could be beneficial to have upfront
Company and team targets in addition to individual targets, as part of the approach
to annual bonuses. We will work on this over the coming months and evaluate at
year-end.
Tool/technology: We need a tool to enable continual feedback and greater visibility of
progress against goals/OKRs.
Simplified Rating System: We should simplify the rating scale and tie it to
achievements, competencies, and behaviors.
Our new Perf system rolls out at the end of the year. It will be a system designed by you, to
address your priorities in a much more objective and transparent way. We launched our
MidYear Process which will be primarily based on goal setting and feedback last week.
This transitional process will focus heavily on the skills and behaviors we all need to be
supportive of each other through the process.
On Comp, as you know we are reviewing our total compensation philosophy. Over the
coming months you will see a number of cumulative changes to base pay, annual bonus and
equity that will ensure we all have complete transparency into how we compensate at Uber.
We also honored the average bonus language for employees who had received confusing
language in their offer letters, and we delivered on the Post Termination Exercise Extension,
extending it from 30 days to 7 years for employees with more than three years of Tenure.
We are committed to doing the right thing for employees, and make swift decisions to that
effect.
G. Flexible Work.
As I mentioned in the All Hand Im so excited to announce that we are introducing flexible
working hours at Uber for the very first time. Effective 1st September, we will develop a
global Part Time Working policy. The policy will be available on Teamdot by 31st July. This
will take a little time to work out as we want to ensure we offer the same possibilities to
everyone globally.
H. Catered Dinner.
By the end of June, dinner globally will be served at 7PM, not 8:15PM :)
IN CLOSING
This weekend I saw something in Forbes that caught my eye: culture is the only truly
sustainable competitive advantage. A bad culture implodes on itself over time. A strong
BRAVE culture is the key to an organization's ability to survive and thrive. What more do
we need to know?
When we started this journey, I said change starts with action. Theres lot of incredibly
hard work ahead, but I have never felt more confident in a companys ability to change, and
reshape the future. The Covington recommendations give us an even greater mandate.
On a personal note, these last few months have been the toughest, and most rewarding of
my career. When I came here, I came for the mission, and for the challenge. I wanted
somewhere that would let me build for the future, and solve the hardest problems for the
company that EVERYONE is watching.
I got more challenge than I bargained for! But I also got more support, more feedback,
more ideas and more opportunity that I thought possible. Together, I want us to show the
world what a truly incredible redemption story looks likelets get moving.
Liane