Safe to say,tumblr lucah the past 24 hours have Uber a little shook up. So shook, in fact, that it's been slightly free and easy with statistics.
On Sunday, former-Uber engineer Susan J. Fowler's chilling account of workplace sexism and incompetent HR practices sent #DeleteUber trending yet again. In response, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick sent a company-wide email to employees Monday seeking to calm the waters.
In Fowler's telling, harassment and disorder in upper management at the company was the norm, with the number of women in her organization dropping from around 25 percent women to 6 percent during her time there.
SEE ALSO: Horrific harassment story is giving the internet a new reason to #DeleteUberKalanick announced an "independent review" into the allegations Sunday, and his email, the text of which was posted on Twitter by New York Timesreporter Mike Isaac, set out some of the details.
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Of course Uber is starting from behind when it comes to addressing inclusive workplace practices. Notably, it is one of the few remaining global tech giants not to release its diversity numbers, though Kalanick said that would change "in the coming months."
In his email, he did reveal that 15.1 percent of employees are women across Uber's engineering, product management and scientist roles.
Kalanick compared that to Facebook's 17 percent. However, he underplayed Twitter's gender balance. In December 2016, Twitter's technical roles were 15 percent women rather than 10 percent as Kalanick cited, a Twitter spokesperson confirmed. Google's current technical balance is 19 percent women, not 18 percent as Kalanick said.
After being approached by Mashable, an Uber spokesperson sent a copy of the employee email with the statistics in question corrected.
Two partners at the law firm Covington & Burling will lead the review, he wrote, which will investigate not only Fowler's claims but "diversity and inclusion" broadly at Uber. Those partners include some high profile talent: Eric Holder, former Attorney General under President Obama, as well as Tammy Albarran.
Holder has experience being called up to help Silicon Valley with diversity issues. In 2016, Airbnb hired him to help address allegations of racial bias on the platform.
From the non-independent side of the bench, Uber board member Arianna Huffington will join the review, as she announced on Twitter Sunday, along with the company's chief human resources officer Liane Hornsey and Uber's associate general counsel Angela Padilla.
Kalanick appears to be leaning heavily on Huffington to manage the crisis, with the media mogul flying to Uber's head office in San Francisco to join the company's all-hands meeting on Tuesday. She'll also conduct "smaller group and one-on-one sessions" to get employee feedback.
How honest employees will feel they can be with an Uber board member remains to be seen.
The original version of Kalanick's full email is below:
"It's been a tough 24 hours. I know the company is hurting, and understand everyone has been waiting for more information on where things stand and what actions we are going to take.
First, Eric Holder, former US Attorney General under President Obama, and Tammy Albarran -- both partners at the leading law firm Covington & Burling -- will conduct an independent review into the specific issues relating to the work place environment raised by Susan Fowler, as well as diversity and inclusion at Uber more broadly. Doing them will be Arianna Huffington, who sits on Uber's board, Liane Hornsey, our recently hired Chief Human Resources Officer, and Angela Padilla, our Associate General Counsel. I expect them to conduct this review in short order.
Second, Arianna is flying out to join me and Liane at our all hands meeting tomorrow to discuss what's happened and next steps. Arianna and Liane will also be doing smaller group and one-on-one sessions to get your feedback directly.
Third, there have been many questions about the gender diversity of Uber's technology teams. If you look across our engineering, product management, and scientist roles, 15.1% of employees are women and this has not changed substantively in the last year. As points of reference, Facebook is at 17%, Google at 18% and Twitter at 10%. Liane and I will be working to publish a broader diversity report for the company in the coming months.
I believe in creating a workplace where a deep sense of justice underpins everything we do. Every Uber employee should be proud of the culture we have and what we will build together over time. What is driving me through all this is a determination that we take what's happened as an opportunity to heal wounds of the past and set a new standard for justice in the workplace. It is my number one priority that we come through this a better organization, where we live our values and fight to support those who experience injustice."
UPDATE: Feb. 21, 2017, 12:38 p.m. AEDT Details added regarding Uber's amended email.
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