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Can HR Clean Up the Mess at Uber?

Uber turned to a human resources specialist to salvage its soiled reputation following sexual harassment allegations and other missteps. Now the spotlight is on HR as it pushes new recommendations to help the auto-hailing giant regain its stature. 

In an company-wide email earlier this month, Liane Hornsey, Uber chief human resources officer, laid out the leadership’s plans to improve workplace culture, Recode reports. The recommendations stem from an investigation following a public bashing by a former Uber engineer.

In February, Susan Fowler posted in her blog about being propositioned for sex by her manager on her first workday and called out HR for nothing about it. Hornsey, for her part, previously served as director of people operations for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Google and most recently was chief administrative officer at SoftBank before Uber tapped her as its chief HR head in November. At the time, Hornsey's main charge was to help Uber get through its growing pains as a startup and mature into a viable business giant. The company’s paper worth was $69 billion as of March, according to Bloomberg Gadfly. 

But Fowler's blog post, subsequent negative media coverage about CEO Travis Kalanick and Uber’s leadership and board’s perceived failure to address a toxic culture, as well as internal and external pressure to fix its image, further complicated Hornsey’s job. Uber also fired 20 employees after its own investigation. Most recently, Kalanick resigned as CEO June 20 following a revolt by shareholders,The New York Times reports. 

The new recommendations come as Uber has strengthened its understaffed HR department with four new senior members. One recommendation includes the creation of a chief diversity officer position. The firm already has a head of diversity, Bernard Coleman, who may be considered for the new role as well as other potential candidates.

Another change will be to put in place a system to gauge how well leaders encourage a diverse and inclusive workplace. Uber also will revamp its 14 values, which include “always be hustlin’,” as reported earlier by The New York Times

Hornsey’s email noted that the firm’s “values must be inclusive and focus on teamwork, collaboration and joy at work, and remove aggressive individual behaviors such as ‘toe-stepping’ and ‘principled confrontation.’”

“Over the next month we will work with you to revise the values,” she noted. “Again, it is my intention to be open, transparent and involving just as we have been with all systemic changes over the last few months.”

Uber also introduced at the end of May a new process to coach managers in the U.S. and Canada and noted that it plans to expand that system next year. “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,” Hornsey wrote in her email.

Uber will keep in place its so-called Integrity Hotline, an anonymous tip line that it introduced after Fowler’s blog post. “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,” she wrote. “You have my absolute commitment on this. We will not fail you again." 

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