The Verge: Former Away employees describe a toxic work environment at the luggage company

Deleted member 43084 · Dec 5, 2019

Emotional baggage: inside the toxic work environment at Away

Away promised a company culture of travel and inclusion, but former employees say CEO Steph Korey uses the company values to get people to work harder and longer.

www.theverge.com

The title is an understatement even for a VC-backed tech company.

When a co-worker invited Avery to join a private Slack channel called #Hot-Topics filled with LGBTQ folks and people of color, she was relieved to find that she wasn't the only one who felt uncomfortable with Away's purported mission and company culture. "It was a lot of like, 'This person did this not-woke thing,' or 'Those people did something insensitive,'" she recalls. In other words, it was a safe space where marginalized employees could vent.

It was also against company policy. Away embraced Slack in more ways than one — its co-founder, Jen Rubio, is engaged to its CEO Stewart Butterfield — but it took things further than most startups. Employees were not allowed to email, and direct messages were supposed to be used rarely (never about work, and only for small requests, like asking if someone wanted to eat lunch). Private channels were also to be created sparingly and mainly for work-specific reasons, so making channels to, say, commiserate about a tough workday was not encouraged.

Employees were asked to work exceedingly long hours and limit their paid time off. Their projects were brutally criticized by executives on public Slack channels. They were reprimanded for not answering messages immediately — even late at night and on weekends.

The cutthroat culture allowed the company to grow at hyperspeed, developing a cult following with celebrities and millennials alike. But it also opened a yawning gap between how Away appears to its customers and what it's like to actually work there. The result is a brand consumers love, a company culture people fear, and a cadre of former employees who feel burned out and coerced into silence.

"They prey on people who were never cool like me," Caroline says. "It's a cult brand, and you get sucked into the cool factor. Because of that, they can manipulate you."

As the holidays approached, the team had to work around the clock to keep up with customer demand. In December, Caroline was wrapping up work at 1AM when she saw a Slack message from Pasanen. "Okay everyone! Take a photo with your computer in bed when you get home. Here's mine!" She was sitting in bed wearing a face mask, still working.

Much, much more in the article.

Deleted member 18944 · Dec 5, 2019

How to kill trust in your company 101

Tigel · Dec 5, 2019

Wow I was considering buying an Away suitcase for my next travel. Not anymore I guess.

The Kid · Dec 5, 2019

God I hate companies like this so much. Away makes luggage, a completely mundane product. Yet Away thinks it is changing the world and all employees need to accept abuse as part of Away's "mission." What a shit company; I will never support them.

subrock · Dec 5, 2019

I wasn't planning on buying one, but I definitely won't now

Deleted member 12379 · Dec 5, 2019

I can't stand companies like this. Everything is a "movement" or some "experience". Motherfucker you sell luggage. All of those slack screenshots by Korey make me extremely mad. Can't imagine staying on to work for someone like that.

Lump · Dec 5, 2019

What am I missing about Away? Just that some of the luggage has batteries for device charging? Maybe I'm just an uncool dude that doesn't see the appeal in the bags for the price.

RastaMentality · Dec 5, 2019

Wow I've never seen a company's slack messages get completely aired out. The whistleblower who took screenshots of everything was on point.

admiraltaftbar · Dec 5, 2019

Lump said:
What am I missing about Away? Just that some of the luggage has batteries for device charging? Maybe I'm just an uncool dude that doesn't see the appeal in the bags for the price.

They're just generally stylish and affordable for the level of quality they are. Luggage is just a weird thing there's not really a middle ground between "luxury" and "cheap" which is the area Away is attempting to fill. Shame the company sucks though because the products are well made.

Deleted member 46493 · Dec 5, 2019

> "From the beginning, Korey and Rubio were masterful at getting these young employees hyped up about their jobs. "You are joining a movement,""

The movement of selling luggage. Something that has existed for years.

VC-backed companies are a joke.

finalflame · Dec 5, 2019

Yikes. Big, big yikes.

onadesertedisland · Dec 5, 2019

Selling shit on a website doesn't make you a tech company.

Illusion · Dec 5, 2019

This is how I view any mission statements, they're just empty buzz words that are trying to make people excited to work for you.

Kthulhu · Dec 5, 2019

The Verge doing good work.

Founder sounds like an ass. "transition into a career outside of Away" just say you're firing them instead of being a manipulative shit.

onadesertedisland · Dec 5, 2019

I had never heard of this company until this. They sell some basic luggage. I get mine from Marshalls for about 20% of what Away charges.

Choppasmith · Dec 5, 2019

Tigel said:
Wow I was considering buying an Away suitcase for my next travel. Not anymore I guess.

Same. I mean I was leaning toward something cheaper anyway, but now it's a big huge NOPE.

mrmoose · Dec 5, 2019

I've never seen slack used like a weapon for execs like this before.

"I know some of you are active on slack after I asked this question!"

Dang.

AlmostMilk · Dec 5, 2019

Wow, was considering buying one a while back but ended up buying a GeniusPack. Was happy with the purchase but am even more happy now that I didn't support this company. This kind of work culture really needs to stop.

Darryl M R · Dec 5, 2019

I bought multiple Away luggages, but like c'mon. It's just nice looking luggage with a charger, and priced fairly.

Away has been chasing the title of "Warby Parker of luggage"

Messofanego · Dec 5, 2019

Wework also wanted to be a movement, religion, cult, etc. It's like a disease among these VC-backed startups that's like one of the self-righteous parody companies on the Silicon Valley TV shows.

mrmoose · Dec 5, 2019

Messofanego said:
Wework also wanted to be a movement, religion, cult, etc. It's like a disease among these VC-backed startups that's like one of the self-righteous parody companies on the Silicon Valley TV shows.

It is a fairly cultish kind of thing in most start ups, where you can choose people who totally buy into the brand, will go above and beyond and sacrifice their lives for someone's vision. I mean, one of the people interviewed in the article who left the company said in the opening paragraph of the article:

"In my mind, it's a trivial product but the brand is more than just luggage," Avery says. "It's about travel."

What does that even mean? It implies she still thinks this about the company despite leaving it.

Messofanego · Dec 5, 2019

mrmoose said:
It is a fairly cultish kind of thing in most start ups, where you can choose people who totally buy into the brand, will go above and beyond and sacrifice their lives for someone's vision. I mean, one of the people interviewed in the article who left the company said in the opening paragraph of the article:

What does that even mean? It implies she still thinks this about the company despite leaving it.

Lol I guess if you can't market your product based on specs, you go the pretentious lifestyle route.

Remmy2112 · Dec 5, 2019

I hear ads for this company all the time on satellite radio and now I'm glad I never bought anything from them. That 1:30 AM comment to post a picture of you working on your computers at home was particularly frustrating. Unless I'm night shift and working from home all you are getting is a picture hours later of me waking up, crazy person.

mrmoose · Dec 5, 2019

Remmy2112 said:
I hear ads for this company all the time on satellite radio and now I'm glad I never bought anything from them. That 1:30 AM comment to post a picture of you working on your computers at home was particularly frustrating. Unless I'm night shift and working from home all you are getting is a picture hours later of me waking up, crazy person.

I think that was just an out of touch manager trying to like unify her team or something, not a requirement, unless I was reading it wrong. The rest is all crap though.

Remmy2112 · Dec 5, 2019

mrmoose said:
I think that was just an out of touch manager trying to like unify her team or something, not a requirement, unless I was reading it wrong. The rest is all crap though.

Maybe, and maybe that manager was fighting to try and get more staff to beat down the backlog but regardless a work culture where that is a thing is, indeed, all crap. You don't beat down backlogs like that by making people work more hours, even if they are the most skilled. You beat it back by hiring more people, but that doesn't fit in with the current, VC-backed startup culture which embraces the philosophy of work harder, not smarter, and make daddy money, don't spend it.

mrmoose · Dec 5, 2019

Remmy2112 said:
Maybe, and maybe that manager was fighting to try and get more staff to beat down the backlog but regardless a work culture where that is a thing is, indeed, all crap. You don't beat down backlogs like that by making people work more hours, even if they are the most skilled. You beat it back by hiring more people, but that doesn't fit in with the current, VC-backed startup culture which embraces the philosophy of work harder, not smarter, and make daddy money, don't spend it.

Oh, I think it's clear what they're going for here: save money, management by culture/fear, transparency used to justify tracking everything you do, etc. The CEO basically taking it upon herself to personally do this and that as a threat (did she really cold call them three times every day just to test them?) is probably taken by her advocates as a hands on approach but really it's just a waste of her time. No overtime, no, but we promise a month off later (did they ever get it?). Then the whole thing about "let me teach you something valuable: it's called accountability" like she's talking to grade school children.

I realize this is just one side of the story or whatever but man, I'd love to hear how people defend this. I don't even see how they're considered a tech company.

ginger ninja · Dec 5, 2019

I am just surprised there's a 'luggage' startup. Leave it to the tech industry to reinvent the wheel for every small thing and Pat themselves ib the back for changing the entire world.

Avitus · Dec 5, 2019

Tigel said:
Wow I was considering buying an Away suitcase for my next travel. Not anymore I guess.

Why not just buy a quality piece from a proven maker? Luggage is not a new invention. Goes for a lot of products.

Dreams-Visions · Dec 5, 2019

Avitus said:
Why not just buy a quality piece from a proven maker? Luggage is not a new invention. Goes for a lot of products.

this.

Never even heard of this company until today. Why buy from them at all with all the well-established brands out there?

BlastProcessing · Dec 5, 2019

Dreams-Visions said:
this.

Never even heard of this company until today. Why buy from them at all with all the well-established brands out there?

Probably because they advertise on a lot of podcasts.

Tobor · Dec 5, 2019

This is literally insane. You don't have people working to 1am for a fucking customer service backlog. Hire some more people!

Tigel · Dec 5, 2019

Avitus said:
Why not just buy a quality piece from a proven maker? Luggage is not a new invention. Goes for a lot of products.

I'm open for suggestions, they were one of the brand that showed up during my searches and their products looked nice.

DanGo · Dec 5, 2019

Capitalism run amok. It's the sociopaths who somehow rise up in this system.

I 'love' how the CEO keeps equating "empowered employees" with employees who always place the company above everything else in life.

Failburger · Dec 5, 2019

I'm sure you can find an equivalent suitcase on Ali express

ReAxion · Dec 5, 2019

i woulda bought one of these if i traveled. sounds like the products were okay but the CEO was shitty?

Tobor · Dec 5, 2019

DanGo said:
Capitalism run amok. It's the sociopaths who somehow rise up in this system.

I 'love' how the CEO keeps equating "empowered employees" with employees who always place the company above everything else in life.

There is a reason we are reading this about one of these new internet direct to consumer businesses and not Samsonite or any other traditional luggage company.

Companies can be run like actual companies. It's not inherent to capitalism to run a business like it's on fire.

ss1 · Dec 5, 2019

There's part of me that wonders if such startups are actually "successful" if the success is only attained by cutting regulatory corners (e.g. overtime pay) and by pushing employees to work ridiculous long hours? To me that looks like not a sustainable form of success and an inflection point will come where the debt of such corner cutting needs to be paid back.

Chikor · Dec 5, 2019

"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."

What an absolute psycho. And fuck that BuSiNeSs TaLk bullshit of framing this as an opportunity.
Also, it's fucking crazy that this shit is legal in the US and this country needs to start fixing its labor laws.

Linkura · Dec 5, 2019

Seeing articles like this all the time makes me wonder if there's any startups that DON'T treat their employees like shit.

Whenever I'm in the job market, "startup" is code for "run the other way."

Darryl M R said:
I bought multiple Away luggages, but like c'mon. It's just nice looking luggage with a charger, and priced fairly.

Away has been chasing the title of "Warby Parker of luggage"

If you RTFA, they actually mention that Away was founded by former Warby Parker employees. Pretty funny.

StarStorm · Dec 5, 2019

I was considering looking at Away suitcases too. Well, guess not now.

Chikor · Dec 5, 2019

Linkura said:
Seeing articles like this all the time makes me wonder if there's any startups that DON'T treat their employees like shit.

Whenever I'm in the job market, "startup" is code for "run the other way."

Startup culture is generally pretty bad, and VCs often push companies toward such shitty behaviors. But there is quite a bit of variance in how companies treat their workers.

Megawarrior · Dec 5, 2019

Never heard of them until this article tbh. That last quote made me sick. I am not working myself until I'm in the grave like that. I refuse.

RastaMentality · Dec 5, 2019

Didn't know there were suitcase companies like Briggs & Riley out here selling $500
for a carry on.

onadesertedisland · Dec 5, 2019

ss1 said:
There's part of me that wonders if such startups are actually "successful" if the success is only attained by cutting regulatory corners (e.g. overtime pay) and by pushing employees to work ridiculous long hours? To me that looks like not a sustainable form of success and an inflection point will come where the debt of such corner cutting needs to be paid back.

The goal of these VC shitholes is to get the company valued enough that the initial investors can make 20% or more in a bullshit, over-valued IPO. Nothing even remotely unique about that luggage, other than an absurd culture and a very abusive CEO.

loneliestwizard · Dec 5, 2019

Girlfriend had an Away bag (got stolen) and I really wasn't too impressed. It was fine, but the TSA undermined their biggest feature (the battery) & there's plenty of decent bags out there that aren't made by whip-cracking maniacs sacrificing everything for the sake of growth.

Linkura · Dec 5, 2019

RastaMentality said:
Didn't know there were suitcase companies like Briggs & Riley out here selling $500
for a carry on.

Meanwhile the cheap ass suitcase I got at Ocean State Job Lot for under 50 bucks is doing just fine.

BlackJace · Dec 5, 2019

Why does every fucking new age company make themselves out to be on a mission to save mankind?

It's fucking luggage, calm the hell down. These CEOs are malignant narcissists through and through. Reminds me of that WeWork lunatic.

Deleted member 43084 · Dec 6, 2019

Update: Steph Korey responds.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/6/...employees-toxic-work-slack-logs-luggage-brand

...and the memos leaked too.

sangreal · Dec 6, 2019

what is away even doing that requires such a hyper-competitive environment? They're selling hard-shell luggage not bleeding edge tech or anything

loneliestwizard said:
Girlfriend had an Away bag (got stolen) and I really wasn't too impressed. It was fine, but the TSA undermined their biggest feature (the battery) & there's plenty of decent bags out there that aren't made by whip-cracking maniacs sacrificing everything for the sake of growth.

they redesigned it to the battery easily pops out when required by the airline/faa/security

mrmoose · Dec 6, 2019

The fact that the internal memos are still being leaked (and that one screenshot includes some information that probably should not be public about intl. orders) probably means that even current workers are not satisfied with her response. Or people just like to leak memos.

The Verge: Former Away employees describe a toxic work environment at the luggage company

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