Uber Technologies is a global ridesharing service that has developed into one of the largest transportation network companies in the U.S.

1. UberResearch
PR 504
November 27, 2018
Nikole Johnston | Madison Pritchyk | Cheng Shi | Man Ting Chu | Ziqi Li

2. BACKGROUND1

3. Susan Fowler, a
former Uber
engeneer, published
the article about
sexual harassment.
The Diversity reports of
Uber in 2017 showed only
around 30% of employees
are female and nearly 89%
of technical leaders are
male.
Travis Kalanic,
Uber’s CEO,
stepped down.
Uber is under investigation by
the US government’s Equal
Employment Opportunity
Commission for its gender
discrimination problems.
Amit Singhal, Uber’s Senior
Vice President of
Engineering, was forced to
resign due to the claims of
Sexual Harassment.
Over 20 employees had
been fired due to bad
behaviors in an
investigation of sexual
harassment claims.
Ingrid Avendaño, a former
software engineer, sued
Uber for sexual harassment,
racial discrimination and pay
inequity.
Feb 2017
Feb 2017
June 2017
June 2017
March 2017
May 2018
June 2018

4. Business Goal
Improving gender equality throughout the company through
both reputation and task management:
● To boost Uber’s reputation
● To build its relationships with stakeholders
Objective
To increase female employment in the United States by
10% in Uber’s technological positions within one year.

5. SITUATION ANALYSIS2

6. Harvard
Business
Review Journal
- women in
tech
companies feel
they don’t have
sufficient
visibility
Distribution of
Employees by Gender
in Silicon Valley by
Statista - Uber reported
70.5% male employees
and 29.5% female
employees in 2017
Females make up
only 15.1% of Uber
employees that are
engineers, scientists,
and production
managers
17 out of 25
companies
Large gap in Uber’s
status as exemplary
brand for gender
inclusion
SECONDARY RESEARCH

7. UBER
-In 2016, held 87% of the market - now decreasing
-Strengths: well recognized, unlimited fleet, convenient, high value
-Weaknesses: easily imitaded, internal company issues, relationship with customers weak
-Opportunities for international expansion and gender/diversity inclusion
LYFT
-Becoming more and more competitive with Uber
-Strengths: minimal wait time, unlimited fleet, economical - often cheaper than Uber
-Weaknesses: availability of drivers, only 20% given to Lyft for rides, internal issues
-Opportunities for cheaper fare for students and other smaller groups as well as room for expansion in
market to compete more heavily with Uber
AMAZON
-This month, Linkedin reported half of Amazon’s HQ2 jobs won’t be in tech
-Strengths: world’s leading online retailer, reputable name, extensive product mix
-Weaknesses: known to spread itself too thin in markets, single minded focus on being online retailer
-Opportunities to expand brick and mortar business and role out more products under own brand
SWOTs/COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
TESLA
-Dominant in the electric vehicle market
-Strengths: high innovation, government and global support, brand recognition
-Weaknesses: low capacity to deliver to consumers, poor customer awareness of products - technology
is too complicated
-Opportunities to expand on technology and collaborating with other companies (Uber?)

8. SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYSIS3

9. Lyft
Tesla
Uber
Amazon
Instagram - September 2018 was first post; 87% positive
comments so far with spike in midterm elections post
Facebook - 21.5 Million followers on Facebook; main
platform to connect with customers, provide updates, and
initiate programs with partners
Twitter - similar to Facebook in content but quicker; reply
to users easily
Instagram - 148K
followers; post more
frequently than Uber
but less engagement
Facebook/Twitter -
similar plan to Uber;
post partnerships,
promotions, answer
customer questions
Instagram - does not post
frequently; engagement
high during promotions
Facebook/Twitter -
similar to Uber; provides
information on partners,
deals, and answering
customer questions
Instagram - more frequent posts than the
other brands; focused on environmental
impact and technology
Facebook/Twitter - Tesla focuses on its
commercials and technology; also posts
about collaborations with companies and
making a positive impact

10. FOCUS GROUP4

11. Goal - to find out how our participants felt regarding leadership roles in tech and how
gender discrimination or equality in the field can influence a company like Uber.
- Students at USC in Engineering, Business and
Communication schools.
- Ages: 20-28 years old. ( included students in a Masters
or higher degree program as well)
- Reach out by email through acquaintances and professors
we knew. Word of mouth did extra recruiting.
- Emails explained the purpose of the study, a disclaimer,
pre-qualifying questions, a confidentiality agreement.
- This process took 2 weeks.
We separated by gender to eliminate any intimidation.
- Total number of responses: 8 males and 4 females
- For equality purposes, we had to let 4 males go. This
left us with one group of 4 and another of 4, separated by
gender.
Our Approach

12. Both focus groups were held on Nov. 9, 2018. The first group with males was at 2pm and the second with females was at 4pm.
We used the Annenberg lobby for the setting, relaxed and easy to find. Participants were given pizza and sodas as compensation.
Roles were divided up by our group for note taking, questioning, and food and introduction. Both groups lasted about an hour.
Both groups opened up with an introduction and handing out food.. Participants then were questioned by two of us for the next
hour. One section of questions focused on the job application process, the second was about working at a company on a basic
level while beginning to introduce more Uber-related questions, and the third had a focus on further development of a role at a
tech company. All vaguely concerned gender.
Sample questions included:
What do you think companies look for in their candidates? Which of these qualities are the most important?
What will you think if a tech company claims they will hire more female employees? Do you think it is a smart strategy to improve
gender equality in the tech industry?
Both groups believe women should be encouraged to become more involved in the tech industry, but did not think a company
should hire someone based on gender over qualifications. Both groups believe there is inequality, but they also believe that both
genders have difficulty getting hired for a job in today’s society because of how competitive the tech industry is.
“It’s too hard to set a standard for equality,-- sometimes it brings up more issues than needed and can be more discriminatory
towards males.”
Hosting the Focus Groups

13. CONCLUSION5

14. Uber’s Recent Issues
Uber has a risk to lose its reputation in the tech industry because of
scandals about gender-related topics.
Competitor Analysis
Lyft is a direct competitor with better brand image
Social Media Analysis
Many of Uber’s competitors to be on the same level
Can leverage social media as an important platform for the brand

15. ● Gender discrimination is more of a talking point rather than an extreme issue
● Both males & females were more concerned with capabilities than gender
● Tech companies should encourage women to apply for the same roles as men
and encourage the men equally as well
Focus Group

16. Everybody is given equal
opportunities for the same job.
Create a campaign that is efficient,
memorable, and worthy of customer
appreciation
improving Uber’s treatment of hiring
staff, internal communications, and
encouragement of its employees
Uber’s customers have a genuine
concern for improving gender
equality in the technology industry
Overall Conclusion

17. FUTURE CAMPAIGN SUGGESTIONS6

18. Uber wants to enhance women in the technology world.
Uber believes and empowers women to become leaders in tech.
Uber is a helpful part of the life of women who
want to pursue tech positions.
Key Messages
PR Campaign - Help Uber Motivate Women to Work in Their Company Alongside Men

19. Encourage a participatory
culture and community
● Post its new programs and features in a
more interesting way
● Encourage publics to join the discussion of
gender equality in the tech industry
● Prompt more women to join the
conversation created by Uber
Create accessible content
● Micro-documentary - show the working
environment
● Make information more transparent
● Unobtrusive and easy to understand & access
● Suggested channel: YouTube
Expansion of offline events
● Sponsor events of organizations that are
helping improve gender equality in the tech
industries
● Cooperate with these organizations to hold
more offline events to spread its concern of
gender equality
Improve crisis
management skills
● Recruit more professional PR practitioners
● Solve problems in time
● Plan in a more strategic way
Improve gender
equality
Boost Uber’s reputation

20. THANKS