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> The so-called “Miami letter”, obtained by technology site Recode, is infamous within Uber and set the tone for company culture with a series of dos and don’ts
by charia 9y ago
> The so-called “Miami letter”, obtained by technology site Recode, is infamous within Uber and set the tone for company culture with a series of dos and don’ts, backed by threats such as “URGENT, URGENT – READ THIS NOW OR ELSE!!!!!” and “You better read this or I’ll kick your ass”.
> Fourth on the list of don’ts was: “Do not have sex with another employee UNLESS a) you have asked that person for that privilege and they have responded with an emphatic “YES! I will have sex with you” AND b) the two (or more) of you do not work in the same chain of command.
> “Yes, that means that Travis will be celibate on this trip. #CEOLife #FML [Fuck My Life].”
> Kalanick also advised that there would be a “$200 puke charge” and that Uber did “not have a budget to bail anyone out of jail”. Uber employees were also advised not to “throw large kegs off of tall buildings”.
> However, employees were told to “have a great fucking time” and that it was a celebration for launching in Uber’s 50th city and for reaching a $1bn run rate.
> The leaked memo paints an ugly picture of American frat-house culture peppered with sexism and laddish behaviour that permeates from the top down. At the time Uber had 400 employees, a similar letter was sent out by Kalanick to employees when the company had 1,800 employees. By the time it had hit 4,000 employees Rachel Whetstone, the now departed head of communications, had taken over with a more subtle and respectful tone.
I'm a bit confused here, at least with the excerpt that's being discussed/referenced. What Kalanick wrote is informal and with a tone that is arguable less mature than what would be expected from a company the size of uber when the letter was written. At the same time, from what I can see it seems to just something HR would send out to employees. "Yes means yes, nothing means no and don't sleep with your boss/direct suboordinate." I'm a bit confused at how this memo paints, "paints an ugly picture of American frat-house culture peppered with sexism..."
Yes, uber's culture seems to encourage sexism to run rampant. Yes, Travis Kalanick is not a ceo with great pr skills. That said, I think it's a bit far to call this informal hr letter written by a startup ceo as, "painting a culture of sexism."
I can see how the, "frat boy" culture that this letter came from could be something that encourages sexism and discriminatory behavior. This article isn't about that though. It's arguing that this letter and it's "guidelines" paint a picture of sexism. The subtitle:
>Guidelines about having sex with employees paints picture of sexism at under-fire company that comes directly from CEO Travis Kalanick
This article seems to just want to reiterate what's been said in a dozen previous articles, but since they didn't have any new information they decided to go for low hanging fruit in the uber trainwreck.Bashing uber just for the sake of bashing uber.
- vanilla_nut 9y agoAgreed. I wonder who's benefiting from all of this anti-Uber propaganda lately? There's been too much of it to ignore, at least one or two nasty pieces per week. While this memo is hardly professional in tone, it's also an internal communication about a celebration weekend. It reads a lot like party announcement emails I'd get from college organizations, and I don't think it's sexist-- it's just lighthearted. It sounds like employees were a bit confused about how to behave at this Miami event, and Travis sent this out to clarify expectations- don't talk about confidential stuff to press, a quick/informal (and, imo, very reasonable) mention of intimate dos/don'ts within the company, and even an internal joke about dropping kegs off of roofs. Would I want to work at this company as a 50-year-old? Probably not. But as a 20-something female, the Uber of 2013 sounds like a pretty fun place to work. It may be informal, but at least it's not layers and layers of unbearable PR-speak.
- ryandrake 9y agoCompared to most company events I've been to, Uber's parties sound like they were a blast. At most companies it's "Here is your approved adult beverage. Fun will now commence."
- iamatworknow 9y agoThe way I see it, for a company as young and "hip" as most of these SV unicorns, they could've handled the consent thing in three ways: 1. Not say anything at all. Not exactly ideal. 2. Say it in a completely mature, serious way which most of the young hip employees would ignore after the first few words, because "Yeah yeah, don't rape, I already know all this." 3. Say it in a lighthearted way that has a better chance of maintaining the reader's interest, and actually be something they remember during the event. To me, 3 sounds like the most effective option.
- zentiggr 9y agohttps://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-on...
- 9y ago