Just last night some tech workers were talking about what a friend had said of working at Uber. The culture there allows "toe stepping" so that for example if someone is on vacation it is okay to take over work that had been assigned to them. Also they practice "always on" which means that any time of any day maybe required to meet company goals. These two features alone are damning enough, but when combined with a culture of back stabbing among high level managers the results are atrocious. This cannot end well.
So after such a tragedy, what does Uber do? They deny the family's benefits claim, of course:<p><i>Uber denied the benefits claim through its insurance carrier. In California, workers’ compensation usually does not cover psychiatric injuries until after six months of employment. Joseph Thomas had worked slightly less than five months at Uber when he killed himself.</i><p><i>But there is an exception to the six-month rule. It doesn’t apply “if the psychiatric injury is caused by a sudden and extraordinary employment condition,” according to California law.</i>
> Uber denied the benefits claim through its insurance carrier.<p>That seems like an <i>extremely</i> terrible move, even if Uber might be technically correct. Deciding to do that makes them <i>look</i> awful, and I think that's what matters most, given everything else contributing to their public image right now. It could have been a great opportunity to look magnanimous.
This could happen in any profession or culture. Uber are just the ones in the spotlight right now.<p>The real issue here is unfortunately ONCE AGAIN, a lack of mental health awareness and services.<p>A psychiatrist has diagnosed someone with "high anxiety"...why aren't they are being subscribed treatment in the form of therapy or medicine? He went to ask for help, and was told something wasn't going well...let's do something to remedy that!
If assistance was in fact prescribed and Thomas denied that it would help him, the fault then is placed on social awareness and acceptance regarding men receiving mental health care.<p>As someone who has gone through my own suicidal thoughts and had therapy and medication literally save my life, this infuriates me to no end.
It's terrible that this young man committed suicide, but it there any evidence that it was Uber's fault?<p>Is the racism claim based purely on lack of hiring diversity? If Thomas was given unforgiving or impossible tasks, why would he refuse to quit?