1. How does the company view employees who want to take time off? Have you had a similar experience at a job?
2. How does the company view employees who do not immediately answer messages? Have you had a similar experience at a job?

Emotional Baggage at Away Luggage designer, manufacturer, and retailer Away was founded in 2015 by Stephanie Korey and Jennifer Ru- bio. Their goal was to create stylish luggage that cost less than existing brands because it would be sold di- rectly to consumers, eliminating the middleman. Its first product was a four-whee], hard-shell bag that fit into an overhead compartment, came in 10 colors, and cost $225 (a similar item from T'umi cost $525). The female-founded start-up was a hit and the com- pany reached a valuation of $1.4 billion in 2019. Korey, who led the company as CEO, was featured on the cover of Forbes's \"30 under 30" issue and credited with designing a unique sales strategy. This strategy included 1,000 influencers pushing the brand on Instagram, keeping it top of mind for travelers.\" Korey soon became even more famous for her ambi- tious attitude, but not in a good way. A series of reports from former employees told a workplace horror story, uncovering a \"cutthroat culture\" where employees were regularly \"brutally criticized.\" As a result, a negative light was shone on the online luggage retailer and Ko- rey was forced to temporarily resign.m Let's inspect Away's baggage. ABUSIVE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES Employees are attracted to Away's mission, which promises a lifestyle of inclusion and nice vacations. Managlng Indlvldual Differencesand Behavlor Management in Action \"In my mind, it's a trivial product but the brand is more than just luggage. . . . It's about travel,\" says Av- ery, a former employee who blew the whistle on the company's toxic practices (her last name has not been published). Away's core values include being thought- ful, customer-obsessed, iterative, empowered, accessi- ble and in it together. But Avery and other employees say the company's globally minded mission and values are just a smokescreen to get employees to work harder and cope with the resulting stress. They claim the following: - Empowered means don't schedule time off, no matter how much you've been working. - Customerobsessed equals do whatever it takes to make the customer happy, even if it costs you your well-being. - In it togenirer means exploiting the fact that employees are close. For example, if one person is forced to work evenings, weekends, and holidays, the entire team does so in solidarity.\" Part of Away's accessible core value is to use Slack, an instant-messaging platform designed for work- places. Slack users can utilize public or private chan- nels of communication to discuss workplace issues and tasks that need to be completed. Away, though, has made it clear that privacy isn't an option. The com- pany not only asks employees to refrain from private CHAPTER I I 50'! Slack messages, it reportedly bans them from using e- mail to communicate with one another. The company calls it transparency; employees call it surveillance. And Away has done a good job of making its employ- ees' point for them. Korey, for instance, fired several employees after reading their complaints about the company's diversity practices in a private LGBTQ channel they had started.Jal Employee stress isn't just coming from the feel- ing of being watched. Former employees paint a pic- ture of a company that demanded they work exceedingly long hours and limit time off for entire months at a time. For example, when Away intro- duced new luggage customization options, about 4,000 customer inquiries went unanswered, even as some Away employees logged 16-hour days. These types of situations happen \"because senior leaders love coming up with ideas, but hate what happens to their profit margins when they hire more people," ac- cording to Biocmberg.m Overworked Away employ- ees who couldn't keep up by answering messages immediately, even late at night or on weekends, would receive a public reprimand on Slack, worsening their mental state. It was \"like having your pants pulled down in front of the company,\" a former employee told Business Insider?\" AWAY MAKES CHANGES . . . SORT OF Away decided to act in response to the bad press it was getting. CEO Korey released an apology after viewing screenshots of her Slack messages, particu- larly one in which she called a manager \"brain dead.\" \"I can imagine how people felt reading those messages from the past, because I was appalled to read them myself. . . . I am sincerely sorry for what I said and how I said it. It was wrong, plain and simple.\" Away took it a step further, forcing Korey to resign and ap- pointing Lululemon COO Stuart Haselden as the new CEO. A few days later, the company changed course. It attacked the media for its reporting on the toxic cul- ture and announced that Korey would be staying on with Haselden as co-CEOPS\" Korey also is \"exploring legal options\" against The Verge, which was the first media outlet to publish former employee criticism. (She claims the outlet started a \"social media mob.\")335 IS THE COVERAGE FAIR? Some experts agree with Away's reversal, calling the news coverage of Korey a \"hit piece\" and saying \"peo- ple are getting soft.\"m In fact, Korey wasn't demand- ing of others what she did not demand of herself. The same former employees who complained to the press never denied their leader's work ethic. Korey was always in the office, managed all the company's oper- ations, and was regularly online past midnight. More- over, she believed she was helping her employees' growth and development by providing clear and blunt feedback?\" Management expert and former Mozilla executive Melissa Nightingale points to the fact that most em- ployee complaints came from Away's customer experi- ence (CK) team. She believes CX is \"the lifeblood of our orgs\" but is often ignored by leaders like Korey and told to suck it up (because that's what Korey would do). \"We burn them [CX] out and we totally know it," says Nightingale?\" Lambda School founder Austen Allred, a critic of how Korey is being treated, believes that the same is- sues could be uncovered at \"something like 99%\" of all high-growth start-ups, should a reporter go looking for it. It's true, Away's culture allowed it to grow at hyper speed, forming a cult-like following with celebrities and Millennials. Former employees say Away's growing pain is different though. 'Ihey believe the company sold them a bill of goods, promising to disrupt the travel in- dustry, but instead disrupted their family dinners and long-distance travel plans?" Away, it seems, has become a brand consumers adore, instigates a culture people fear, and produces former employees who are burned out. Does its leader see a problem with this picture? FOR DISCUSSION Probiem-Soiving Perspective 1. What is the underlying problem in this case from ctr CEO Haselden's point of view? Do you believe co CEO Korey has a different point of view? 2. What do you think Away needs to do to reduce em- ployee stress and burnout? Appiimtion okanpler Content 1. Use the Big Five personality dimensions to describe coCEO Korey. Justify your description. 2. How would you characterize coCEO Korey's emo- tional intelligence? 3. How does the company view employees who want to take time off or who do not immediately answer messages? Use attributional tendencies in your analysis. 4. What impact does Away's culture have on employee engagement, job satisfaction, and organizational com- mitment? Explain. 5. Which barriers to diversity is Away displaying? 6. What sources ofjobrelated stress exist at Away? How can these be remedied