In the latest episode of Tech Bros Behaving Badly, former Uber engineer Susan Fowler says she was propositioned by her boss and denied advancement because of her gender. Perhaps an even more egregious allegation is that the human resources department and senior managers at the company ignored her complaints.

Uber Technologies Inc. now joins a growing list of Silicon Valley companies that seem unable – or unwilling – to address bad behavior in the workplace, particularly if it's directed at women. This isn't an accident, experts say: It's partly a consequence of a growth-at-all-costs environment that sees human resources as a drag on the mission. Some new companies also see human resources professionals as rule-bound killjoys, anathema to the work-hard, play-hard culture of startups.

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.

Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.