Business
Shifting Uber’s Narrative from Crisis to Safety
This interview is a part of our newest Ladies and Management particular report, which highlights ladies making important contributions to the key tales unfolding on the planet right now. The dialog has been edited and condensed.
Jill Hazelbaker, 40, a former political spokeswoman, is the senior vp of promoting and public affairs for Uber.
You joined Uber in 2015 when it was beneath scrutiny for a office tradition the place sexual harassment towards ladies and discrimination had been mentioned to be widespread. Did that issue into the discharge of Uber’s first Security Report in 2019 addressing incidents of sexual assaults and different questions of safety on rides?
There is no such thing as a query that issues occurred within the firm that weren’t OK. We wanted to get our home so as internally after which repair it externally. I took it as a chance to attempt to make a profound impression.
Are you able to clarify the report’s methodology?
We examined knowledge from 2017 and 2018, when a mean of three.1 million journeys passed off day by day within the U.S. We checked out severe security incidents reported on the platform from riders and drivers, together with important crashes, sexual assaults and bodily assaults. And we additionally collaborated with outdoors specialists and third-party organizations.
The report revealed that Uber is protected, and statistically talking, incidents are uncommon: 99.9 % of Uber journeys ended with none safety-related subject, and 0.0003 % of journeys had a report of a important security incident.
However even one incident is just too many, so it was about what new approaches we might take.
And what had been a few of these approaches?
One of many huge points is confirming who your driver is, so Confirm Your Journey permits riders to confirm every experience with a four-digit PIN that they verbally present to their driver, who should enter it into their very own app as a way to begin the journey. We even have an In App Emergency Button that connects riders and drivers to 911. In some cities, journey particulars and placement will be shared routinely with first responders, or riders and drivers can ship a textual content message to 911.
One other function is Share My Journey, the place riders and drivers can share with relations or associates who can observe their journey in actual time and know after they’ve arrived.
You will have mentioned that you’re going to replace the report. Are you able to be extra particular about when?
We’ve dedicated to releasing Security Reviews each two years. We depend on knowledge from the federal authorities, which has been delayed however is anticipated to be launched quickly. As soon as that knowledge is launched, we’ll finalize and subject our subsequent report, possible this spring.
You additionally mentioned you’ll search a option to share the names of drivers who had been accused of rape with opponents, in order that they don’t merely transfer to a different hailing service.
Sure, because the report was launched, we launched the Business Sharing Security Program. This permits corporations to trade fundamental details about drivers and supply individuals who have been deactivated for severe security incidents to assist stop these people from working on one other platform.
You’ve steered Uber by means of progress, difficult moments and one of many largest tech preliminary public choices in historical past (in Might 2019). What’s the greatest problem you see for Uber?
I believe a significant problem and alternative is to meaningfully enhance the established order for individuals who work on platforms like ours. Immediately, Uber is among the largest sources of labor — of any variety — on the planet. From 2016 to 2021, greater than 31 million individuals earned $177 billion on Uber, drawn by the independence and suppleness of the work.
That form of flexibility is one thing extra individuals have come to understand through the pandemic, however drivers and couriers have all the time understood that being impartial shouldn’t imply being by yourself. That’s why our coverage groups the world over are combating for a greater deal for gig economic system staff; you may nonetheless be impartial, however you additionally get advantages and protections.
We’ve made a whole lot of progress, but it surely’s going to take time. In the end, I consider we’ll succeed as a result of it’s what the drivers and supply individuals themselves inform us that they need.
How essential are Uber Eats and Uber’s different companies?
Pre-pandemic, our supply enterprise was rising at a wholesome charge however was nonetheless very a lot the “little sibling” to our mobility enterprise. As Covid hit, and folks stopped transferring round their cities, we actually leaned in, and Uber Eats grew to become even bigger than our international mobility enterprise was earlier than the pandemic started. Now we’re leaning in once more to rework supply into different classes akin to grocery, comfort, alcohol, pharmacy and extra.
Earlier than Uber, you had a profession in politics through which you served because the press secretary to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York and because the nationwide communications director for Senator John McCain’s presidential marketing campaign. You additionally labored for Google and Snap. What do you assume attracts you to politics and aggressive enterprise environments?
I like being on the middle of the motion as a result of that’s the place the impression is — and that’s the place change is born. It’s simple to criticize from the sidelines, but it surely’s no substitute for getting within the sport your self.
What’s your recommendation to ladies who may select your path and pursue high-stakes jobs?
Be simple on your self. And do the issues that convey you pleasure. These are onerous jobs that require nice vitality and focus. You’re not going to get it proper one hundred pc of the time, and in the event you can’t chuckle alongside the best way, you’ll drive your self completely loopy.
As a mum or dad of three youngsters beneath the age of 6, you’ve advocated for girls in tech. What recommendation do you give to moms who wish to tackle management roles?
?
In my time at Uber, I’ve had six rounds of [fertility treatments] and three youngsters. My household and my profession convey me immense pleasure, however I’m not going to faux that at factors it hasn’t been unbelievably onerous. We’ve glamorized this concept of “having all of it” when, I believe, we must be way more clear in regards to the actuality: “Stability” requires a whole lot of assist and is commonly elusive.
Heath Evans really needed his Sonos speakers to work.
He and his wife counted on one of the three wireless devices he owned to play lullabies to help put their baby daughter to sleep.
So, in May, when Sonos released a new controller app that was so riddled with problems he couldn’t get the speakers to work, Evans was angry.
“We just need reliable music that plays lullabies while we’ve got a screaming baby trying to go to sleep,” said Evans, a 40-year-old entrepreneur in Australia who had received the speakers from his wife last year for his birthday.
Fed up with the time Sonos has taken to fully fix the app, the family has given up on trying to use the devices, which cost about $1,300. They’ve turned instead to a cheap speaker to stream music for their daughter’s bedtime.
Evans is among a legion of unhappy customers who are upset with Santa Barbara-based Sonos. Today, the company is still trying to mitigate the fallout from the app debacle and salvage its reputation as a powerhouse in the audio industry offering an array of portable, high-quality wireless speakers. The hit to Sonos’ brand has swung the door open for rivals such as Amazon, Bose, Apple and other tech giants that make smart speakers to capture more of the business’ customers.
“Sonos knows it is on precarious ground because while it has built up customer goodwill, it plays in a highly competitive space,” said Dipanjan Chatterjee, vice president and principal analyst at research firm Forrester in an email.
Over its more than 20 years, the publicly traded company has weathered tough times before, including the 2008 financial crisis. But its latest misstep is a multimillion-dollar blunder that has forced it to delay the launch of new products and lower sales projections for the pivotal final months of the year when they otherwise would be looking to capitalize on a holiday sales boost.
Sonos said it’s spending $20 million to $30 million to fix the app and provide more customer support — an emergency investment it hopes will win back the trust of customers and steady its financial footing. In the last six months, the company’s stock, which ended trading Thursday at $11.58, has fallen 39%. In the quarter ending June 29, it reported $397 million in revenue, a 6% increase over the same period last year, and $3.7 million in net income.
This week, the company outlined a plan to make sure it doesn’t have similar failures in the future, including improvements to how it tests products before they’re released, the appointment of a “quality ombudsperson,” creation of a customer advisory board, and extending its warranty for certain items, such as its home theater and plug-in speaker products. Executives agreed to forgo their annual bonuses for 2025 unless their turnaround plan succeeds.
“There are many wonderful brands that have made missteps, have gone out and apologized to fix things and won back the trust of their customers,” said Eddie Lazarus, Sonos’ chief strategy officer. “We’re going to be the next one in that line.”
Sonos was founded in 2002 by a group of entrepreneurs who set out to build something that is commonplace today but pioneering at the time: a wireless audio system that would enable people to play music over the internet anywhere in their home. They were working years before the start of popular streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora, as well as the launch of the iPhone.
In January 2005, the company released the ZP100, a device with a remote control that allowed people to stream music through their computers. The product garnered positive reviews including from Walt Mossberg, a tech columnist at the Wall Street Journal, who called the Sonos music streaming system “easily the best music-streaming product I have seen and tested.”
As in many startups, Sonos executives were worried about competitors . The first song played publicly on the ZP100 was the Beastie Boys’ “No Sleep Till Brooklyn,” a tune engineers could relate to as they hustled to improve the quality of the device before its release.
Appearing on the podcast “How I Built This with Guy Raz” this year, one of the founders, John MacFarlane, recalled the pressure he and others felt to unveil their first product in time for the holiday season — a goal they ultimately missed. Releasing the ZP100 before it was ready would have “killed the company,” he said.
“You had to have a great positive first experience if you’re going to build the brand on word of mouth,” MacFarlane said.
The challenge of striking a balance between moving fast and having a good product is still a challenge that Sonos and other tech companies have grappled with throughout their history. Apple faced backlash from its customers in 2012 when it released a Maps app that contained inaccurate driving directions, Chatterjee said. But Sonos is in a “trickier” spot because the app is part of what makes the company’s audio system function seamlessly for the 15 million households that use its products globally.
“Without that seamlessness, there is no ease of use, and without the ease of use, the company cannot command its premium price with consumers or its premium position in the market,” he said.
Sonos Chief Executive Patrick Spence has acknowledged that the company has let down its customers. He told investors in August after Sonos released its quarterly earnings that the company had to rebuild the app to address “performance and reliability issues” and position the company for growth as the company expands “into new categories and move ambitiously outside of the home.” Sonos released its first pair of headphones in June.
For some Sonos customers like Evans, Sonos’ response has been “tone deaf,” underscoring the trust the company still needs to win back.
“Why on earth would I care about a quality ombudsman? I’m a guy sitting in Melbourne nursing a baby in Australia with a speaker that doesn’t work,” he said.
Despite looking at the possibility of bringing back the previous version of the Sonos app, Lazarus said the company ruled it out because there were a lot of “technical concerns.” While the company has said it’s reintroduced many of the features from the old version of the app that were missing in the new one, he acknowledged the company still has work to do. He couldn’t say when the app will be completely fixed.
Other customers have found workarounds to still stream their music from their Sonos speakers even if the app doesn’t work.
Fearing issues with the rollout of the new app, 32-year-old product designer Matthew Mocniak said, he disabled his Sonos system from automatically updating the app but the solution worked only temporarily.
Mocniak, who lives in North Carolina and has spent more than $2,000 on Sonos speakers, said he’s able to stream music through Apple’s Airplay feature.
As someone who works in the tech industry, Mocniak knows rebuilding software can be harder than it looks. “It’s very easy to promise certain features or certain deadlines,” he said. “It’s also easy to forget that there are people responsible for that stuff on the other side.”
Ben Brown, a 49-year-old creative director in the United Kingdom, said his Sonos app still says his speakers are not connected. Instead, he’s been using Amazon’s Alexa assistant to play music on the speakers.
Brown, who also purchased multiple Sonos speakers for his home, said he was so frustrated that he felt the urge to throw the Sonos Roam portable speaker in the sea while on vacation.
“I would never have done it, really, but that’s how angry it makes you,” he said. “It’s those moments where you just want to take a speaker outside, eat some dinner and listen to some music.”
new video loaded: Port Workers Go on Strike
transcript
transcript
Port Workers Go on Strike
The president of the International Longshoremen’s Association said the workers were “making history” by walking off the job for the first time in nearly 50 years.
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“I.L.A.! I.L.A.!” “You’re making history here because we’re doing one thing. We are fighting for our families and we are fighting for the rights so that we have a right to get a piece of that money that they got so much of. And we’re going to do it. We’re going to walk away with a great contract. God bless us all.” “I.L.A.!” “All the way!” “I.L.A.!” “All the way!”
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