
Former Away employees describe a toxic work environment - kyleblarson
https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/5/20995453/away-luggage-ceo-steph-korey-toxic-work-environment-travel-inclusion
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PragmaticPulp
> The day before Valentine’s Day, Korey decided she was going to stop the team
> from taking any more time off. In a series of Slack messages that began at
> 3AM, she said, “I know this group is hungry for career development
> opportunities, and in an effort to support you in developing your skills, I
> am going to help you learn the career skill of accountability. To hold you
> accountable...no more [paid time off] or [work from home] requests will be
> considered from the 6 of you...I hope everyone in this group appreciates the
> thoughtfulness I’ve put into creating this career development opportunity
> and that you’re all excited to operate consistently with our core values.”
> (The emphasis is Korey’s.)

> Four days later, when she noticed two managers still had time off on the
> calendar, she was livid. “If you all choose to utilize your empowerment to
> leave our customers hanging...you will have convinced me that this group
> does not embody Away’s core values,” she said. (Again, emphasis Korey’s.)

Textbook abusive manager behavior. Performance management is not about
disciplining people and spinning it as a thoughtful career opportunity is the
kind of thing that feels ludicrous from the outside, but it's crushing for
junior employees who fear the career impact of losing their jobs

The bit about controlling communications and forbidding private discussions is
another abusive behavior.

These types of abusive companies filter for vulnerable employees who don't
know any better. If you've only worked at a company like this, it's typical to
think that these toxic behaviors are normal. It's good to have articles like
this framing the abusive behavior as not-normal.

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hstreet
I've worked for about a dozen tech companies, and all but 1 were like
this...and even that one was probably bearable because I got along with the
right crowd. It shouldn't have to be like that though, and I'd like to know of
any non-toxic tech companies that exist :)

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altacc
I can’t quite wrap my mind round all this for luggage! The level of BS jargon
going on is truly awful. Making luggage isn’t “joining a movement”. I’m glad
more companies are being exposed for this craziness but I doubt it’ll ever
stop, considering the work culture in the US.

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lil-scamp
The micromanagement seems like a common trap for junior-ish CEOs/Founders to
fall into...but those Slack screenshots are something else.

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notkaiho
This is utterly, utterly avoidable and the fact that they literally fired the
person in charge of trying to fix it shows they are determined to blow it.

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tuesdayrain
>"That was jarring — three white people telling me I was racist,” she says.

I'm amused by the lack of self awareness of anyone who can say that.

