Uber CEO Travis Kalanick’s parents had met with a tragic boating accident which took his mother’s life. Therefore to grieve his tragic loss and calm his emotions the Uber CEO has decided to take leave of absence. Travis has told his team that his leave is of unspecified length. However, the changes which are in process for Uber will take place after he is back.
The Uber is going through a tough time with major changes in its team. Moreover, when its competitors are making headways in collaborations with automobile giants. There was a recent rift with Google as well making it loose the contract for self-drive car tech expansion.
Kalanick has stated that in his absence the Uber will run under the charge of his leadership team. Moreover, there is no notable change in the pipeline to the structure of the company in his absence. Kalanick’s letter to the team states that he is not fully cutting himself from company functions. That he is always available for strategic decision making.
Kalanick has not cleared the air about the time span of this absence of leave. Leaving it to the speculations by saying that it is hard to put a timeline on this. It could well stretch for a longer period or it might cut short from the expectations.
According to the recommendations of the former US Attorney General Eric Holder in his report on the investigation of Uber’s ethics and leadership issues, Kalanick will take a lesser role after his return. The report was in response to the sexual harassment and other forms of unfairness at Uber. Some of the duties of Kalanick will now involve vital inputs from other senior leaders. In short, Kalanick alone will not make these choices.
The Uber’s board of directors has voted to accept all the suggestions of the report. All this is now in the news section of Uber’s website.
Some of these decisions which would directly impact Kalanick are:
- Using the review metrics tied to diversity, response to the employee complaint, compliance, and employee satisfaction.
- Moreover, the addition of independent board seats, better audit board to oversee Kalanick and Uber directors.
- Then, making compulsory of training for inclusiveness for Kalanick and his team of senior leadership.
- Moreover, increasing the support for human resources team to handle public report and making sure Kalanick and team follow these.
At present, Uber needs to start a new beginning going down a long wide road without its founder CEO.