Liane Hornsey, Uber’s chief human resources officer, said in a statement, “We are totally committed to healing wounds of the past
and building a better workplace culture for everyone.”
Uber’s aggressive culture began with its 2009 founding, when Mr. Kalanick and another founder, Garrett Camp, created a start-up
that would let customers hail a cab with little more than a few taps of their smartphone — bypassing many of the headaches people had with the taxi industry.
Inside Uber’s Aggressive, Unrestrained Workplace Culture -
SAN FRANCISCO — When new employees join Uber, they are asked to subscribe to 14 core company values, including making bold bets, being “obsessed” with the customer, and “always be hustlin’.” The ride-hailing service particularly emphasizes “meritocracy,” the idea
that the best and brightest will rise to the top based on their efforts, even if it means stepping on toes to get there.
Mr. Kalanick also held a 90-minute all-hands meeting on Tuesday, during which he
and other executives were besieged with dozens of questions and pleas from employees who were aghast at — or strongly identified with — Ms. Fowler’s story and demanded change.
Yet the focus on pushing for the best result has also fueled what current
and former Uber employees describe as a Hobbesian environment at the company, in which workers are sometimes pitted against one another and where a blind eye is turned to infractions from top performers.
In what was described by five attendees as an emotional moment,
and according to a video of the meeting reviewed by , Mr. Kalanick apologized to employees for leading the company and the culture to this point.
Mr. Kalanick also started putting into place what eventually became Uber’s 14 core values,
inspired by the leadership principles at one of the biggest public tech companies, Amazon.