Management in Action: Emotional Baggage at Away Apply the knowledge of management presented in this chapter to the following case. The goal of this activity is to enable you to understand the challenges facing Away and how those challenges are related to individual differences. Read the case and answer the questions that follow. Luggage designer, manufacturer, and retailer Away was founded in 2015 by Stephanie Korey and Jennifer Rubio. Their goal was to create stylish luggage that cost less than existing brands because it would be sold directly to consumers, eliminating the middleman. Its first product was a four-wheel, hard-shell bag that fit into an overhead compartment, came in 10 colors, and cost $225 (a similar item from Tumi cost $525).

The female-founded start-up was a hit and the company reached a valuation of $1.4 billion in 2019. Korey, who led the company as CEO, was featured on the cover of Forbess 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.¹

Korey soon became even more famous for her ambitious 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 Korey was forced to temporarily resign.²

Lets inspect Aways baggage.

ABUSIVE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

Employees are attracted to Aways mission, which promises a lifestyle of inclusion and nice vacations. In my mind, its a trivial product but the brand is more than just luggage. . . . Its about travel, says Avery, a former employee who blew the whistle on the companys toxic practices (her last name has not been published). Aways core values include being thoughtful, customer-obsessed, iterative, empowered, accessible and in it together. But Avery and other employees say the companys 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 dont schedule time off, no matter how much youve been working.

Customer-obsessed equals do whatever it takes to make the customer happy, even if it costs you your well-being.

In it together 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.³

Part of Aways accessible core value is to use Slack, an instant-messaging platform designed for workplaces. Slack users can utilize public or private channels of communication to discuss workplace issues and tasks that need to be completed. Away, though, has made it clear that privacy isnt an option. The company not only asks employees to refrain from private Slack messages, it reportedly bans them from using email to communicate with one another. The company calls it transparency; employees call it surveillance. And Away has done a good job of making its employees point for them. Korey, for instance, fired several employees after reading their complaints about the companys diversity practices in a private LGBTQ channel they had started.⁴

Employee stress isnt just coming from the feeling of being watched. Former employees paint a picture of a company that demanded they work exceedingly long hours and limit time off for entire months at a time. For example, when Away introduced 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, according to Bloomberg.⁵ Overworked Away employees who couldnt 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.⁶

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, particularly 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 appointing 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 culture and announced that Korey would be staying on with Haselden as co-CEO.⁷ 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.)⁸

IS THE COVERAGE FAIR?

Some experts agree with Aways reversal, calling the news coverage of Korey a hit piece and saying people are getting soft.⁹ In fact, Korey wasnt demanding of others what she did not demand of herself. The same former employees who complained to the press never denied their leaders work ethic. Korey was always in the office, managed all the companys operations, and was regularly online past midnight. Moreover, she believed she was helping her employees growth and development by providing clear and blunt feedback.¹⁰

Management expert and former Mozilla executive Melissa Nightingale points to the fact that most employee complaints came from Aways customer experience (CX) 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 thats what Korey would do). We burn them [CX] out and we totally know it, says Nightingale.¹¹

Lambda School founder Austen Allred, a critic of how Korey is being treated, believes that the same issues could be uncovered at something like 99% of all high-growth start-ups, should a reporter go looking for it. Its true, Aways culture allowed it to grow at hyper speed, forming a cult- like following with celebrities and Millennials. Former employees say Aways growing pain is different though. They believe the company sold them a bill of goods, promising to disrupt the travel industry, 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?

Which of the following Big 5 personality measurements probably contributed to co-CEO Koreys initial success at Away?

Multiple Choice

low emotional stability

high neuroticism

low agreeableness

high conscientiousness

high agreeableness