Introduction
Over the decades, Uber emerged as one of the controversial corporate entities that prominently influence the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Despite its leading position in the transport and logistic industry globally, researchers argue that there is a poor performance record on efficacy levels based on CSR activities (van Eck & Nemusimbori, 2018). In a study, Dudovskiy (2021) indicates that the lack of CSR initiatives led to the loss of the company’s operating license in London. As a result, the managerial team developed dynamic approaches promoting sustainability across the multidimensional spectrum. The incorporation of sustainable CSR projects is attributed to the institution’s alteration of the organizational culture, public perception, and relation with the contractors. Since Uber has a few inefficiencies regarding its CSR, specific practices can help improve the organization’s performance in this sphere.
Main body
To begin with, one should clarify what CSR specifically denotes. This term represents a management approach stipulating that organizations incorporate social and environmental values into their operations (Stobierski, 2021). For example, businesses are concerned with eco-efficiency, pollution reduction, philanthropic activities, and fair relationships with stakeholders. Companies should follow these requirements because they are believed to have sufficient resources to improve the quality of life for the community.
Now, it is reasonable to identify specific examples that can demonstrate that Uber has problems regarding its CSR. Even though Uber (n.d.) has a special page on its official website to highlight its CSR practices, an analysis of third-party sources proves the opposite. The organization is one of the international companies with a significant percentage of employees across different countries. The workers primarily rely on the Internet for marketability hence the promptness to adhere to an aggressive sales culture. Despite acquiring a competitive market position, Uber faces a prominent challenge concerning developing a dysfunctional organizational culture (Jeon, Lee & Jeong, 2020). Poor networking among the counterparts compromises the quality of service rendered. As a result, it is crucial to assess the abound efficiency scale of Uber’s working environment indicators relative to the laborers’ welfare. This information demonstrates that the business fails to meet its CSR regarding its employees.
Uber primarily sells the transportation service to the population at a price determined by timeliness during the travel. At the company’s onset, the aggressive sales approach was an efficient strategy to intensify the optimal customer service portfolio. However, Lyft, as one of the competitors, poses a significant threat to Uber due to the dynamism in the delivery process. While Uber prioritizes enterprise profitability, Lyft focuses on establishing a teamwork-oriented corporate culture. Lyft’s strategy renders an optimal mark to the customer satisfaction index than Uber due to the high-quality consumer service experience. In 2017, an Uber employee confessed to sexual harassment while working while the administration indicated a concern for the rise in the number of laborers’ suicides around New York City (Jeon et al., 2020). The distinct issues contribute to bad press for the firm based on the intensified flow of information locally and internationally.
Particular economic aspects have also highlighted the CSR issues of Uber. The researchers indicate that Uber insisted that it operates as a technology organization while the drivers are independent contractors (van Eck & Nemusimbori, 2018). However, Barbara Berwick contested the relationship establishing that she operated as an Uber employee. In this case, it is crucial for the company to reimburse the costs incurred during operations. In a different approach, Uber faces another hurdle that involves the employment taxation rate. Currently, the company incurs minimal employment taxation costs, while the legal clause enhances the business profitability margin at the expense of workers’ well-being. Thus, the Uber business model is an evolutionary scale concerning the importance of adjusting regulations based on employee-employer relationships.
Since the essay has located a few examples demonstrating that Uber is not behaving as it should, it is reasonable to find an explanation of these processes. Some organizations engage in poor CSR practices because this approach requires more economic resources. Thus, businesses want to retain more profits, which makes them save money on promoting social, environmental, or other values. Other companies face CSR issues because they do not understand the importance of engaging in this behavior. These organizations fail to comprehend that environmental or philanthropic activities can improve the brand image that, in turn, can promote sales and revenues. Often, it is impossible to identify a single factor that leads to CSR problems, which denotes that a combination of various phenomena leads to this negative state of affairs. That is why it is possible to suggest that Uber suffers from the stipulated issues because of economic motifs and insufficient understanding of how effective CSR practices are.
The information above demonstrates that it is necessary to take specific steps to improve Uber’s CSR. Firstly, it is possible to make business processes more transparent for all stakeholders (Lu et al., 2019). This decision will prove that Uber is sure that it relies on credible and reliable practices. Secondly, economic investments can be an effective intervention because specific awards, subsidies, and training programs can promote CSR values (Lu et al., 2019). For example, Uber can invest in specific initiatives and programs to improve living conditions in the community. Thirdly, the organization can use its informative resources to promote some environmental, philanthropic, and other social values among its stakeholders (Lu et al., 2019). Finally, Uber managers can do research to find a company that is famous for its effective CSR strategy. This information denotes that the given organization can borrow an effective approach to achieve positive outcomes.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the essay has demonstrated that Uber has experienced many issues in its corporate social responsibility sphere. Examples include a dysfunctional organizational culture, improper employee behaviors toward clients, and maximizing the company’s profits at the expense of workers’ well-being. Numerous factors can explain why these practices exist, which denotes that no single problem leads to corporate social responsibility issues. That is why it is possible to rely on different activities to solve the problem. Suitable interventions include making business practices transparent, relying on economic incentives, advertising appropriate values among stakeholders, and utilizing an existing strategy that has proven its effectiveness. Uber can utilize them to improve its performance in the corporate social responsibility area.
References
Dudovskiy, J. (2021, July 22). Uber CSR overview. Business Research Methodology.
Jeon, M. M., Lee, S., & Jeong, M. (2020). Perceived corporate social responsibility and customers’ behaviors in the ridesharing service industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 84, 1-10.
Lu, J., Ren, L., Lin, W., He, Y., & Streimikis, J. (2019). Policies to promote corporate social responsibility (CSR) and assessment of CSR impacts. Business Administration and Management, 22(1), 82-98.
Stobierski, T. (2021, April 8). Types of corporate social responsibility to be aware of. Harvard Business School.
Uber. (n.d.). 2021 ESG report. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
Van Eck, S., & Nemusimbori, N. E. (2018). Uber drivers: Sad to say, but not employees of Uber SA. THRHR, 81, 473-483.