Great minds don’t think alike: How Uber is raising the bar for diversity data in tech
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Executive summary
In 2019, Uber — the world’s largest on-demand mobility and delivery platform — set out to better understand the demographic make-up of its employee population. However, when your organization spans dozens of countries, that seemingly simple task can get complex. For example, how do you define race in regions where race isn’t recognized as a construct? Understanding that this data would be foundational to building a culture of inclusion, Uber’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Awareness (IDEA) Team persevered, and the Global Self-Identification (GSID) Survey was born.
More than five years in, Uber’s GSID Survey has set a benchmark for how to identify, and thus better support underrepresented employee populations (URPs) in tech and beyond.
The survey asks full-time Uber employees in more than 50 countries to identify themselves across multiple demographic categories, including race, gender, sexual orientation, level of education, and caregiver, disability, and military status. Depending on local regulations, some questions were tailored or omitted. The payoff? Uber can use this granular data to create or modify benefits that better serve employee needs and analyze trends in hiring, promotion, and retention as they relate to URPs (who often leave tech faster than they arrive). Uber can provide meaningful data to Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to drive more effective programming.
The urgency of the project was clear from the outset. Initiatives like GSID are vital for driving meaningful change and ensuring that workplaces reflect the diverse world they operate in. The data Uber collected initially (gender globally and race in the US) did not fully capture the complex diversity of their employees. They recognized that to diversify, grow, and retain Uber’s workforce, they needed the transparency that only accurate, global data can provide. The program as it stands now was created to expand the demographic categories they ask their employees to voluntarily disclose, and to help ensure country-specific relevance. By understanding the diverse backgrounds and experiences of their employees, Uber can implement tailored strategies and keep a pulse on the needs of different communities, which are crucial steps on our mission to create a truly inclusive and thriving workplace.
An interesting challenge was getting Uber’s 30,000+ employees to voluntarily share personal information. The team opted to build trust through transparency, by educating employees on what data was being collected, how the company planned to use the information, how it would be protected, and who would have access to it. They also linked to a wealth of information and comprehensive FAQs on Uber’s intranet. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, they followed through, sharing learnings from GSID with Uber’s employees across multiple channels.
This strategy seems to be working. GSID Survey participation rates have steadily increased, with 54% of Uber’s employees completing the survey in 2023, a marked increase from the 27% of employees who participated in the inaugural survey in 2019.
The process of building and refining GSID was so enlightening, and of such interest to peers in the DEI space, that the IDEA team felt compelled to share their learnings, including an early preview at a 2023 Catalyst Expert Community event. In a white paper released on the topic in June 2024, “Global Self-Identification—Helping Drive Equity in the Workplace through Data,” the team detailed everything from their biggest obstacles and how they solved them, to their methodologies and key findings. The goal, is to help colleagues learn from best practices, while addressing the stigma surrounding Self-ID, emphasizing its importance, and demonstrating how it can help to create a more accurate workforce picture, ultimately fostering inclusion.
Feedback has been positive all around. The IDEA team has received emails from Uber employees thanking them for the wide range of demographic categories included in the survey, saying they make them feel ‘seen and heard.
Christine Stout, HR Business Partner, Delivery, has been Global Co-Chair of Uber’s Veterans ERG for the last four years. She reports that data gleaned from GSID helped her ERG connect with previously unknown segments of the employee population. Stout says:
The identification of the "P" in MVP [an acronym for Military Veterans & Partners] was made possible through GSID. Traditionally, the Veterans at Uber ERG was predominantly male, heavily US-based, and exclusively veterans. Through GSID, we realized there was a population of military partners at Uber that we were not connected to. With this data we were able to reach a whole new demographic with unique challenges and needs. As a result, we have advocated for relevant benefits, partnered with the business on bringing military spouses onto the platform as drivers or couriers, and even recently, it’s helped us find someone to continue to represent military spouses as part of our broader aspirations.
Christine Stout agrees that Uber’s focus on building a more inclusive culture has grown substantially since she joined the company eight years ago — and it’s only helping the business:
As an HR professional advising our internal leaders on their talent strategies, the GSID and related IDEA workstreams are imperative in guiding our actions and choices related to our people. The decisions are more well-informed, the outcomes for our teams are stronger, and the business results are better.
Uber is continuously raising the bar and insights from GSID will continue to drive innovative decision-making and business outcomes by bringing diverse voices to the table.