優(yōu)步的14條核心價值觀

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.

舊金山——新雇員加入優(yōu)步(Uber)時，會被要求接納公司的14條核心價值觀，其中包括敢于放手一搏、顧客“至上”，以及“永遠奔忙”。這家召車公司尤其強調(diào)“任人唯賢”，也就是說，基于其付出的努力，最優(yōu)秀、最聰明的人會青云直上，即便這意味著要得罪別人才能做到。

Those values have helped make Uber one of Silicon Valley’s biggest success stories. The company is valued at close to $70 billion by private investors and operates in more than 70 countries.

在這些價值觀的助力下，優(yōu)步為硅谷貢獻了一個上佳的成功故事。該公司被私人投資者賦予了將近700億美元的估值，業(yè)務(wù)遍及70多個國家。

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.

不過，把重心放在不懈追求卓越上，也滋長了該公司內(nèi)部一種被現(xiàn)員工和前員工形容為霍布斯式的氛圍，員工們有時會相互對立，績效優(yōu)異者的違規(guī)行為會被忽略。

Interviews with more than 30 current and former Uber employees, as well as reviews of internal emails, chat logs and tape-recorded meetings, paint a picture of an often unrestrained workplace culture. Among the most egregious accusations from employees, who either witnessed or were subject to incidents and who asked to remain anonymous because of confidentiality agreements and fear of retaliation: One Uber manager groped female co-workers’ breasts at a company retreat in Las Vegas. A director shouted a homophobic slur at a subordinate during a heated confrontation in a meeting. Another manager threatened to beat an underperforming employee’s head in with a baseball bat.

通過采訪30多名優(yōu)步現(xiàn)員工和前員工，以及核查內(nèi)部郵件、聊天記錄和會議錄音，我們描繪出了一種百無禁忌的職場文化的輪廓。這些員工作為見證者或當事人做出了極為驚人的指控，但礙于簽有保密協(xié)議或擔心遭到報復，均要求匿名。其指控包括：優(yōu)步的一名經(jīng)理在拉斯維加斯的野外拓展活動中摸了一名女同事的胸部;一名總監(jiān)開會時與一名下屬激烈對峙，竟然把詆毀同性戀的言詞甩向?qū)Ψ健Ａ硪幻?jīng)理揚言要用棒球棒敲一名表現(xiàn)不佳的員工的頭。

Until this week, this culture was only whispered about in Silicon Valley. Then on Sunday, Susan Fowler, an engineer who left Uber in December, published a blog post about her time at the company. She detailed a history of discrimination and sexual harassment by her managers, which she said was shrugged off by Uber’s human resources department. Fowler said the culture was stoked — and even fostered — by those at the top of the company.

本周以前，對這種文化的議論只在硅谷范圍內(nèi)悄悄進行。但周日，于去年12月離開優(yōu)步的工程師蘇珊·福勒(Susan Fowler)發(fā)布了一篇博文，講述她在該公司的遭遇。她描繪了自己遭到經(jīng)理們歧視和性騷擾的種種細節(jié)，說優(yōu)步的人力資源部門對此不予理睬。福勒說，公司高層的那些人為這種文化推波助瀾，甚至可以說是其締造者。

“It seemed like every manager was fighting their peers and attempting to undermine their direct supervisor so that they could have their direct supervisor’s job,” Fowler wrote. “No attempts were made by these managers to hide what they were doing: They boasted about it in meetings, told their direct reports about it, and the like.”

“似乎每一名經(jīng)理都在對抗自己的同級人員，并設(shè)法暗中打擊上司，這樣一來他們就可以坐直屬上司的位子，”福勒寫道。“這些經(jīng)理對自己的所作所為從不遮遮掩掩：他們在會議上夸夸其談，跟直接下屬說這些事，等等。”

Her revelations have spurred hand-wringing over how unfriendly Silicon Valley workplaces can be to women and provoked an internal crisis at Uber. The company’s chief executive, Travis Kalanick, has opened an internal investigation into the accusations and has brought in board member Arianna Huffington and former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to look into harassment issues and the human resources department.

她的揭露文章讓很多人憂心于硅谷的職場竟對女性如此不友好，并引發(fā)了優(yōu)步的內(nèi)部危機。該公司首席執(zhí)行官特拉維斯·卡蘭尼克(Travis Kalanick)已經(jīng)就這些指控啟動了內(nèi)部調(diào)查，還讓董事會成員阿里安娜·赫芬頓(Arianna Huffington)和前司法部長小埃里克·H·霍爾德(Eric H. Holder Jr.)對騷擾問題以及人力資源部展開調(diào)查。

To contain the fallout, Kalanick also began more disclosure. On Monday, he said that 15.1 percent of Uber’s engineering, product management and scientist roles were filled by women and that those numbers had not changed substantively over the past year.

為了降低負面影響，卡蘭尼克開始披露更多信息。他于周一表示，在優(yōu)步，工程、產(chǎn)品管理和科學家崗位上的工作人員有15.1%是女性，這些數(shù)字在過去一年中沒有出現(xiàn)大的變動。

Kalanick also held a 90-minute all-hands meeting 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 — Fowler’s story and demanded change.

卡蘭尼克還于周二召開了一場全員大會，會上，被福勒的文章驚呆或?qū)ξ恼掠兄鴱娏艺J同感的員工，向他和其他高管提出了數(shù)十個問題和請求，敦促公司做出改變。

In what was described by five attendees as an emotional moment, and according to a video of the meeting reviewed by The New York Times, Kalanick apologized to employees for leading the company and the culture to this point.

《紐約時報》查看的會議視頻顯示，卡蘭尼克就其任由公司和公司文化發(fā)展到這步田地向員工道了歉。有五名參會者稱這是令人動容的一刻。

“What I can promise you is that I will get better every day,” he said. “I can tell you that I am authentically and fully dedicated to getting to the bottom of this.”

“我可以向你們承諾，我每一天都會做得更好，”他說。“我可以告訴你們，我會實心實意、全心全力地弄清真相。”

Some Uber employees said Kalanick’s speedy efforts were positive.

一些優(yōu)步雇員稱，卡蘭尼克的快速響應(yīng)具有積極意義。

“I am pleased with how quickly Travis has responded to this,” Aimee Lucido, an Uber software engineer, wrote in a blog post. “We are better situated to handle this sort of problem than we have ever been in the past.”

“我很高興特拉維斯能如此快速地對這件事作出回應(yīng)，”優(yōu)步軟件工程師艾梅·盧奇多(Aimee Lucido)在一篇博文中寫道。“在處理這類問題方面，我們占據(jù)了比以往任何時候都更良好的位置。”

As chief executive, Kalanick has long set the tone for Uber. Under him, Uber has taken a pugnacious approach to business, flouting local laws and criticizing competitors in a race to expand as quickly as possible. Kalanick, 40, has made pointed displays of ego: In a GQ article in 2014, he referred to Uber as “Boob-er” because of how the company helped him attract women.

作為首席執(zhí)行官，卡蘭尼克一直都是為優(yōu)步定調(diào)的人。在他領(lǐng)導下，優(yōu)步采取了一種具有挑釁性的業(yè)務(wù)模式，在以盡快開疆拓土為目標的競賽中違反當?shù)胤?、批評競爭對手?，F(xiàn)年40歲的卡蘭尼克曾經(jīng)直白地展示過真實的自我：在《GQ》2014年的一篇文章中，他管優(yōu)步叫“妞步”(Boob-er)，因為該公司令他桃花大增。

That tone has been echoed in Uber’s workplace. At least two former Uber workers said they had notified Thuan Pham, the company’s chief technical officer, of workplace harassment at the hands of managers and colleagues in 2016. One also emailed Kalanick.

這種調(diào)子一直回蕩在優(yōu)步的工作場所。至少兩名前優(yōu)步員工說自己曾在2016年告知公司首席技術(shù)官范順(Thuan Pham)，一些經(jīng)理和同事有職場騷擾之舉。其中一人還給卡蘭尼克發(fā)了郵件。

Uber also faces at least three lawsuits in at least two countries from former employees alleging sexual harassment or verbal abuse at the hands of managers, according to legal documents reviewed by The Times. Other current and former employees said they were considering legal action against the company.

此外，時報查看的法律文件顯示，優(yōu)步在至少兩個國家面臨著不少于三樁訴訟，均由前員工就經(jīng)理人員實施性騷擾或語言暴力提起。其他現(xiàn)員工和前員工稱，他們正考慮對該公司采取法律行動。

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.”

優(yōu)步首席人力資源官利亞納·霍恩西(Liane Hornsey)在一份聲明中表示，“我們將全力彌合過去的創(chuàng)傷，為所有人打造一種更好的職場文化。”

While Uber is now the dominant ride-hailing company in the United States, and is rapidly growing in South America, India and other countries, its explosive growth has come at a cost internally. As Uber hired more employees, its internal politics became more convoluted. Getting ahead, employees said, often involved undermining departmental leaders or colleagues.

優(yōu)步目前是美國占主導地位的召車公司，且在南美、印度以及其他國家迅速擴張，但爆炸式的增長是以出現(xiàn)內(nèi)部問題為代價的。隨著優(yōu)步雇用的員工越來越多，其內(nèi)斗也變得愈發(fā)復雜。員工們表示，要出人頭地，常常得給部門領(lǐng)導或同事下絆子。

Workers like Fowler who went to human resources with their problems said they were often left stranded. She and a half-dozen others said human resources often made excuses for top performers because of their ability to improve the health of the business. Occasionally, problematic managers who were the subject of numerous complaints were shuffled around different regions; firings were less common.

像福勒一樣向人力資源部門反映過問題的員工說，他們常常被擱到了一邊。她和另外六人均表示，人力資源部門常常給績效優(yōu)異者找借口，因為那些人擁有讓公司業(yè)務(wù)健康發(fā)展的能力。有時候，遭到大量投訴的經(jīng)理會被調(diào)到別的地區(qū);但因此被解雇的情況十分罕見。

One group appeared immune to internal scrutiny, the current and former employees said. Members of the group, called the A-Team and composed of executives who were personally close to Kalanick, were shielded from much accountability over their actions.

現(xiàn)員工和前員工說，有一個群體似乎對內(nèi)部審查免疫。這個群體名叫“A隊”(A-Team)，由一些和卡蘭尼克有著密切的私人關(guān)系的高管構(gòu)成，其成員常常不必為自己的行為承擔責任。

One member of the A-Team was Emil Michael, senior vice president for business, who was caught up in a public scandal over comments he made in 2014 about digging into the private lives of journalists who opposed the company. Kalanick defended Michael, saying he believed Michael could learn from his mistakes.

A隊成員之一、商務(wù)高級副總裁埃米爾·邁克爾(Emil Michael)曾卷入一樁盡人皆知的丑聞——他在2014年放話，要調(diào)查跟優(yōu)步對著干的那些記者的私生活?？ㄌm尼克為邁克爾做了辯護，說他可以從錯誤中汲取教訓。

Since Fowler’s blog post, several Uber employees have said they are considering leaving the company. Some are waiting until their equity compensation from Uber, which is restricted stock units, is vested. Others said they had started sending résumés to competitors.

自從福勒發(fā)表博文以來，幾名優(yōu)步員工表示他們正考慮離職。一些人等著拿到優(yōu)步給他們的股權(quán)報酬，這些通常是限制性股票。另一些人說他們已經(jīng)開始向優(yōu)步的競爭對手投簡歷了。

Still other employees said they were hopeful that Uber could change. Kalanick has promised to deliver a diversity report to better detail the number of women and minorities who work at Uber, and the company is holding listening sessions with employees.

不過其他員工表示，他們希望優(yōu)步能有所改變?？ㄌm尼克已經(jīng)承諾，會發(fā)布一份多樣性報告，更詳細地介紹在優(yōu)步工作的女性和少數(shù)族裔的人數(shù);此外，該公司正舉行面向員工的聆聽會。

At the Tuesday all-hands meeting, Huffington, the Uber board member, also vowed that the company would make another change. According to attendees and video of the meeting, Huffington said there would no longer be hiring of “brilliant jerks.”

在周二的全員大會上，優(yōu)步董事會成員赫芬頓還公開宣布，該公司將做出另一項改變。根據(jù)與會者的話和會議視頻，赫芬頓說公司不會再雇用“出色的混蛋”。