February 19, 2018
Case Study: Uber on Susan Fowler’s Allegations
Background
The current most valuable U.S. start-up Uber faced sexual harassment allegations on February 19, 2017 when its former employee Susan Fowler published a 3,000 word blog post about her experience working in Uber for a year. She started working for Uber as a reliability engineer (SRE) in November 2015 and on her first official day she received sexual messages over the company chat room from her manager. She immediately reported it to the human resources but they responded by saying it was his “first offense” and that he was a “high-performer”1 so there was no need to take any serious actions regarding it. The upper management consistently gave her a poor performance review and her manager illegally threatened to fire her because of the allegations of sexual harassment and sexist emails she made to the HR. The Chief Technology Officer Thuan Pham and the HR took no actions to handle her allegations and she had to quit her job in Uber.
PR Issue
Since the blog post a stream of more sexual harassment claims were issued against the company which led to the loss of trust from its customers and its employees. In June 2017 Uber fired 20 employees due to harassment claims and hired two female senior executives who were given the responsibility to set the strategies for the company. Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Law Firm Perkin Coie LLP led the investigation of over 215 employees. As a successful start-up Fowler’s blog post prompted boycott against the Uber app.
Press Release:
• Soon after the blog post was published Uber C.E.O Travis Kalanick provided a statement to the Hive that this was the first time he was made aware of the situation and the chief of HR Liane Hornsey and board member Arianna Huffington will immediately conduct an investigation on that matter.
Social Media:
• Arianna Huffington tweeted after the blog post that she will be starting the investigation on the matter.
Website:
• There was no posting on the website about this matter.
Analysis
Strength (internal)
• Kalanick met with over 100 female engineers working for Uber to hear about their experience who expressed to the C.E.O that there was a “systematic problem” of sexual harassment in the company. He also apologized to the all the Uber employees for “inadequately addressing their complaints and for the lack of diversity in their company”
• In the time of the increasing complaints after the blog post Kalanick hired two female senior executives and fired Uber’s head of software engineering Amit Singhal who was reported of sexual harassment by his previous employers in Google and 20 others who were senior executives in the company.
Weekness(internal)
• The blogpost started a stream of backlash by its employees against Uber’s internal sexual harassment incidents. It has received many written warning from its employees about sexual harassment and HR’s inability to take action.
Opportunity
• Uber pledges $5 million towards sexual assault and domestic violence prevention to distribute the money over the course of five years to organizations such as Raliance, the National Network to End Domestic Violence and NO MORE.
Threats
• When Travis Kalanick joined President Trump’s economic advisory council a social media campaign of #DeleteUber began to encourage people to delete the Uber app but eventually it died down. After the sexual harassment allegations of Susan Fowler that campaign came back to life and became viral.
• Uber’s policy to conduct the investigation by the lawyers who already advocate for the company received major criticism by different law firms and other tech competitors that it was considered a conflict of interest.
• Ever since the allegations Uber also lost the trust of many of its customers. The way the company acted internally received great criticisms from its customer for not following the brand it advertises externally about inclusivity and diversity.
• Uber’s major competitor Lyft has taken this opportunity to tweet and share their diversity goals on social media by comparing them to Uber.
Recommendations/Suggestions
Travis Kalanick immediately shared his prompt decision on the press instead of sharing it on social media or the website. Which reached more audience than social media because it could have disappeared beneath the existing anti Uber #deleteuber campaign. Constructing an immediate talk with the employees also helped built the trust of his worker. However, sitting down with the female employees had a backlash for the company and started a stream of harassment claims that were not met before. Also that meeting was streamed live on Buzzfeed which created a lot more chaos for the internal dynamics in the company. There are many PR strategies Uber can use now to showcase that the company is a safe environment for all its workers. They can start a Uber blog post on its website. Showcasing the work of the women in the teams and the achievements they are making. Having more talks with the press from current Uber female employees to share their opinion on the work environment in Uber and how they have improved to make the work environment a safer place. Sharing their contribution to the domestic violence group and Raliance on their social media pages and creating a volunteer opportunity for all the Uber employees to participate in activities with those organizations to show their commitment for change.
Citations:
https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber
https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/24/uber-female-engineers-to-travis-theres-a-systemicproblem-with-sexism-here/
https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/21/how-uber-can-permanently-regain-trust/
https://techcrunch.com/gallery/everything-we-know-so-far-about-ubers-sexual-harassmentscandal/slide/5/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/deniselyohn/2017/03/25/why-did-sexual-harassment-fell-uber/#2d1bcfc82050
LaunchCode outreach strategy to reach different demographics
LaunchCode will need to use an integrated communication strategy to reach out to different demographics. Social media, broadcast media, connecting with organizations and attending social events attended by the majority population of that demographic, are some possible ways to reach out to its audience.
Not everyone listens to the radio or reads the newspaper. However, mid professionals who are trying to change their career are probably listening to the radio on their way to work. Veterans could be keeping up with the news around the globe through radio or newspaper to get their information. African American women can access their information through different social events.
The following are some of the ways LaunchCode could use to reach out to the different demographics:
Media outreach:
Radio and newspaper are some of the broadcast media that can be used for veterans and professionals. Not everyone watches television but most people use social media. Having a strong social media presence can help reach all kinds of demographics.
Posting a newsletter on popular Portland newspaper or magazine can reach the demographics.
Facebook:
Sharing stories through videos, pictures or articles can get people’s attention. However it is important to reach out to the audience first. Sharing posts from other non-political organizations who are committed to improving the community shows that LaunchCode is passionate about other social works. This will lead to people already “liking” that organization to notice LaunchCode. Publishing a work done by previous coders who were veterans, professionals or African American and tagging that person on the post can get their friends and family on Facebook to notice LaunchCode and its mission.
Twitter & Instagram:
The best way to get more followers on Twitter is by retweeting or quoting other people and organizations. Publishing an inspiring story of a previous LaunchCode graduate on Instagram once a week and sharing it on tweeter with different hashtags can reach many demographics.
Connecting with Organizations
Organization that have connections to the majority African American women or veterans are the best ways to reach out to those demographics who are not active on social media.
It is possible to work with other organizations by these following ways:
• Participating in their events and sharing the mission of LaunchCode.
• Representing a LaunchCode graduate who identifies with that demographic to attend and speak to the audience.
• Passing out flyers during their meetings or events after receiving permission from the organizations and sharing with them our mission and goals to create diversity.
• Organizing volunteer activities or social events with those organizations to create a positive outlook about LaunchCode and creating awareness of its mission.
• Passing out flyers during social marches and supporting non-political causes to create and represent social and cultural diversity.
• Supporting business, events and organizations through our social media by sharing their events. This will reach out to a more diverse audience.
Organizations to reach out to African American women’s are:
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
• Black United Fund of Oregon
• Black Parent Initiative
• African American Leadership forum.
• Urban League of Portland.
Events to reach the demographic:
• PDX Jazz Festival
• Solae’s Lounge
• Support Black owned restaurant days
• Soul’d out music festival
Also passing out newsletters and flyers in businesses, beauty salons, coffee shops, schools and churches in Northeast Portland, which is also the historic heart of Portland’s African American community, can be beneficial as well.
Organizations to reach out to veterans:
• Returning veterans project
• Disabled American veterans
• Veterans service
Events to reach the demographic:
• Veterans day parade
Many veterans returns to school after they complete their service. Passing out flyers and newsletter in the Portland Community College and other universities and colleges in Portland will reach out to that demographic as well. Connecting with local therapist and sharing LaunchCode’s mission to support veterans can also be a way to reach to the demographic.
Organizations to reach out to professionals:
• Coffee shops
• Bars in downtown Portland
• Moda Center
• NBA Portland Timbers or Portland Pilots soccer games.
• Middle Schools: to reach out to the parents.
Other than all of the above, it is important to keep the website, social media and all other media platforms up to date. Also providing mini workshops, free discussions and consultations can increase the number of attendees in LaunchCode.