#Faceless person drivers
Still, it's a window into how hundreds of drivers feel and an Uber spokesman says many of NPR's survey results track the company's own findings about its driver workforce. Respondents are self-selected, and possibly more negative toward Uber than the average driver. NPR conducted an informal survey of Uber drivers, using email lists and social media. It can create a system that lacks the most basic sympathy. The company has designed an app that is so efficient, cheap and scalable that it manages 600,000 drivers in the U.S. But with Uber, we are coming to a strange inflection point. You can join meetings from home, or from Hawaii. For years, workers have enjoyed the way technology creates distance from the boss. The experience of this Uber driver may be a window into the future of work. I mean, I got booted off my income provider, for no reason."
If that doesn't sound like a big deal, he puts it in perspective: "What if you got booted off your cellphone provider? That change everything. At first, the notifications told him it would take 15 days to review his case then, 30 days. So Huestis found himself trapped in a maze of online forms and generic emails. Huestis did manage to contact state officials, he says, but they didn't have a way to call Uber either. Uber doesn't offer that kind of customer support. But it didn't even have a number for him to call. Uber is among the largest private companies on earth and is currently valued at about $70 billion. Huestis felt like he was invested in Uber - he even runs a Facebook page for local Uber drivers to bond - but the company isn't invested in him. So I was like, 'Why is this happening?' " "It was nothing violent or anything that would stop me from being a Uber driver. 1, 2017, Huestis was pardoned by the governor of Vermont, clearing his record. The only thing that has changed since is that on New Year's Day, Jan. He says when he started driving for Uber in early 2016, he passed the background check. The 42-year-old, who lives with his girlfriend and her child, indeed had a record for three marijuana possessions - spanning from 1993 to 2010. Checkr, another Silicon Valley startup, told him he had a marijuana record that needed to be reviewed before he could drive again. Moments after hitting submit, he got a message from a company Uber uses to do criminal background checks. Huestis hit the button on the Uber app, which directed him to a form (not a person). He recalls the app alert told him to "please contact customer support." It's counterintuitive, but again in Uber-speak, the driver is the "customer." Drivers rely on the company's service - the now iconic black app - to match them with riders.
#Faceless person software
When Huestis found himself locked out, he wasn't sure if it was just a software glitch. In interviews with NPR, Uber officials acknowledge that the company has to improve its communication with drivers and that in the initial years of growth, it was not a top priority. This facelessness is decidedly unlike other workplaces. Even in dire situations - like when you've been axed - it's impossible to reach a human in charge. They say the San Francisco-based startup sets strict rules and punishments, just as other bosses do, but it's eerily distant. And to recruit drivers, company leaders are fond of saying you can "Be Your Own Boss." But through dozens of interviews and an informal survey, NPR found that hundreds of drivers feel the company is not living up to that promise. Uber has created one of the fastest-growing workforces in American history. He'd been "deactivated," as Uber calls it. After the car wash, he slid into the front seat and tried to open his Uber app. He bought the used car specifically to drive for Uber. He took his Chrysler 300 to a Burlington, Vt., car wash. At first, there was nothing unusual about that day in April. That's how it works at Uber.Įric Huestis didn't realize that, until it happened to him.
Now, imagine that instead of your boss telling you face to face, you get the news from a pop-up alert on your smartphone. If you've heard those words, you know they feel like a punch in the gut. You probably never want to hear you've been fired.
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