How Manish Bindrani balances comfort, flexibility, and energy at Uber Gurgaon
October 6, 2022 / GlobalManish Bindrani, our Regional Head for Intracity Cars based in Gurgaon, India joined Uber in 2015. Over 7 years later, Uber’s ever-evolving product suite, scope to grow a rewarding career, and benefits—now including hybrid work—have empowered Manish to excel on the job and at home.
Tell us about your role as Regional Head of Intracity Cars for Uber in India.
“My role encompasses UberGo, Go Sedan/Premier, Uber XL, and other categories providing intracity mobility. I provide stewardship for growth and experience for these, achieving a fine balance between the two. Given the nature of my role, I am both directly responsible for short-term and long-term outcomes for the business and influence a range of functions.”
Are there any highlights or memories that stand out from your 7 years at Uber?
“As difficult as it is to compress such a rich set of memories over the last many years at Uber, there are a few efforts that I’ve been a part of to localize products for our community that stand out. I especially remember in our early days the unique opportunity as “Sons and Daughters of India” we had to solve the challenges of helping people move around their communities.
In a major milestone, our newest category at the time, Uber Auto, grew significantly within months of its launch. At the time I was leading our efforts on Uber Auto and it gave me tremendous pride to see the growth and product-market fit of the cultural icon that is Uber Autos delivered via the Uber app.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, despite facing some of the hardest challenges, the Uber team worked hard to deliver safety kits and partitions to drivers across all forms of mobility. In particular, Uber installed more than 100,000 safety screens on Autos around the country providing an added layer of protection.
Most recently, to better support users with cancellations, my team worked with product teams to provide information earners needed to make better-informed decisions on trips and thereby improve the experience for riders and drivers. We still have a way to go, but this was a big step and also a gold standard in collaboration for us.
Can you tell us about life in the Gurgaon office and the flexibility Uber’s hybrid working model provides?
“I’ve always found our Gurgaon office to be the right balance between comfort, flexibility, and energy. Workstations are flexible, lots of natural light overlooking the skyline and there is ample opportunity to collaborate. The catered food is amazing and most people start their day at the newly added chai station. Teams define their preferred choice of working from home and office which creates a balance between in-person collaboration and the productivity of working from home.”
How do you ensure you and your team get the most out of Uber’s benefits?
“Uber’s benefits are best in class and tend to be quite innovative, making it hard to choose anyone. In particular, I love Uber’s wellness benefits which I have been using for the last several years to invest in my health and fitness. This is something even my team uses regularly to have a balance between their work and health. It is a great nudge to invest and develop healthy habits.”
How does Uber drive diversity, equity, and inclusion across everything we do?
“The commitment that the leadership has at every single level and the passion with which we hold ourselves accountable to our goals is truly unique. This is a large part of our secret sauce—simply setting tangible goals and holding ourselves accountable to them drives a lot of our progress on this important topic.”
What’s something people would be surprised to learn about working at Uber?
“Despite scaling to 22,000+ employees and operating in more than 10,500 cities around the world, we still continue to have bi-weekly company-wide All Hands. It’s a time to ask our CEO and entire leadership team anything. Questions are up-voted and down-voted. This is a key part of working at Uber where transparent and responsible communication is important for us and helps bind us together around the world.”
What are you looking for in anyone joining the team?
“In addition to specific-role expectations, I usually look for confidence, curiosity, and truth-seeking. See the forest and the trees is an important value at Uber and one of my favorites too.”
Interested in joining us? Explore our open roles in Gurgaon →
Posted by Philip Graumann
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