Stressed out and at risk: Inside Uber’s special investigations unit

The internal investigators tasked with keeping Uber safe were overworked, underpaid and at times emotionally traumatized as they struggled under the burden of nearly 1,200 cases every week, a confidential internal memo obtained by CNN says.

The 26-page memo, prepared by an outside risk management consultant, says that as recently as May last year, Uber’s Special Investigations Unit was handling hundreds of cases every week. The team — which was made up of 60 investigators and 15 team leaders at the time — was tasked with handling the most severe incidents reported to the company in North America, including verbal threats, physical and sexual assault, rape, theft and serious traffic accidents.

Uber commissioned the memo as part of its “broader efforts to stand up a best-in-class, specialized investigations team,” a company spokesperson told CNN.

Although the memo notes that the team members loved “being associated with a ‘hot’ brand” and its younger employee base, it also said conditions were so bad within the unit that the memo warned of mental health risks to the investigators — even the potential of suicide.

“A single suicide by an Uber investigator who posts that they could not ‘take’ the job demands any longer will be fodder for the national if not international news media,” the memo said.

Uber sent lengthy responses to CNN detailing the action they say the company has taken since the memo was completed. “We have been putting safety at the heart of everything we do,” Uber’s head of safety communications Brooke Anderson said in a statement. “Uber will continue to focus on safety in 2019, including through the release of an accurate transparency report.”

Investigators experienced ‘profound stress’

Uber has repeatedly over the past year said that safety is its number one priority. But the company is still reckoning with the problems that have come along with its aggressive push to scale globally.

The memo notes that, as of May, most of the SIU’s investigators were in their 20s and 30s. According to a CNN analysis of former and current employees, one Uber investigator went from being a Starbucks barista to handling calls from victims. Another was a manager at Chipotle before he became an investigator. The memo also says many of the SIU’s investigators had “law enforcement, investigations and military backgrounds.”

The memo cites a “serious level of stress and anxiety of team members,” and notes that six members of the unit were “experiencing profound stress requiring clinical care.”

“The issue of untreated depression … because of a massive caseload and the concern that an investigator must acknowledge that they are not coping well is not only real but increasing,” the memo said.

In addition to obtaining the internal memo, CNN spoke with seven former Uber employees familiar with the unit, including investigators and managers. All spoke on the condition of anonymity citing fear of retribution and professional repercussions for speaking out; one cited a non-disclosure agreement.

In an email to CNN, an Uber spokesperson said these types of issues are not uncommon for “fast-paced, crisis-related jobs involving tough issues,” such as 911 operators, adding “[w]e are (and have been) very focused on ways to support our safety response agents, including helping them cope with the stress and challenges of this important job and ensuring we have the right people with the necessary skill sets to manage these sensitive, serious issues.”

Uber also took issue with the memo’s description of the SIU’s caseload, noting that some cases might be duplicates or proven fraudulent after further investigation. The memo said the “SIU team manages nearly 1,200 cases per week” and noted “Although some reports shared with the SIU are frivolous and later found to have no merit or constitute fraud, we were told that most of cases reported have some basis of substantiation.”

The memo cites the financial and reputational damage that severe incidents can have on the company, which is slated to go public in 2019, noting that trust in Uber “is eroded by periodic, but serious allegations of inappropriate or illegal conduct, notably by drivers and occasionally by hostile passengers.”

After CNN began asking questions about sexual assaults, Uber announced increased safety measures including a partnership with RapidSOS, a company that sends a rider’s location and relevant information to a local police agency when the rider uses the emergency button in the Uber app. Uber also revamped its background check policy, now conducting annual checks on drivers. Following the airing and publication of CNN’s investigation, Uber announced it would do away with a policy that previously forced individuals with sexual assault complaints into arbitration and made them sign non-disclosure agreements.

 

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