Uber CEO Travis Kalanick told his employees that he is taking a leave of absence from the company. The move comes from Kalanick following several controversies at Uber and also his mother’s death late last month.
The company will be run by a management committee in absence of Kalanick. Uber hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to conduct an internal investigation following allegations of misconduct and sexual harassment by a former female employee in the company. The company released recommendations from the investigation law firm Covington & Burling that states it will create a board oversight committee, rewrite Uber’s cultural values, reduce alcohol use at work events and prohibit intimate relationships between employees and their bosses.
Uber’s Liane Hornsey, Chief HR Officer, posted in a blog post,
This morning, employees were presented the recommendations from Covington & Burling that were unanimously approved by the Board on Sunday. Implementing these recommendations will improve our culture, promote fairness and accountability, and establish processes and systems to ensure the mistakes of the past will not be repeated. While change does not happen overnight, we’re committed to rebuilding trust with our employees, riders and drivers.
Post his return, Kalanick will also be relieved of some duties, which will be taken over by an independent chair. “Recent events have brought home for me that people are more important than work, and that I need to take some time off of the day-to-day to grieve my mother, whom I buried on Friday, to reflect, to work on myself, and to focus on building out a world-class leadership team,” he wrote in an email.