Toxic work environment - poor management, no clear direction, hierarchy built on 'privilege' and not merit - Anonymous employee Moda Operandi Employee Review

Moda’s brand name is overshadowed by several fundamental and alarming issues that cripple employees’ personal growth and development and jeopardize the livelihood of the Company. One would expect that any start-up would experience growing pains as it seeks to expand and pursues a growth strategy. However, Moda has been operating for 10+ years, and has still struggled to address critical business-101 operational and cultural issues. The logical conclusion is that either (A) management is oblivious and therefore incapable of governing, or (B) management is astutely aware of the issues and has purposefully turned a blind-eye – either option is alarming. 1) Poor Management a. Being a manager is a learned-skill that requires active training , refinement, and on-going development. In fact, most companies require newly-appointed managers to take company sponsored management training courses. Moda doesn’t offer any training courses and does not consider whether a person is fit to ‘manage’ other people before granting them with the title and responsibility. Instead, Moda treats the manager role as if it either (1) accompanies a pay raise or (2) you are entitled to it if a new employees joins the firm and you are not arbitrarily more tenured. Moda’s approach to management manifests itself in several ways: i. Poor feedback cycle: ‘Managers’ do not know how to give construct feedback and certainly don’t know how to solicit and receive feedback within a healthy environment ii. Lack of professional development: ‘Managers’ have no clue how to highlight their team’s strengths and help develop their areas of opportunity iii. Micro-management: ‘Managers’ don’t know how to set direction and deadlines, collaborate, and trust their team members to do the jobs they were hired for. This results in micro-management on the manager’s part, and has a devastating impact on morale and creates unmotivated employees iv. Lack of team and collaborative spirit: There is typically a disparity in information flow which creates dilutes the team environment and doesn’t allow employees to effectively do their jobs 2) Inefficient processes and governance a. Candidly, Moda’s growth was too rapid and as a result, the Company was unable to establish the operational backbone required to support that growth. Moda tried to fixed this by over hiring on middle-management. The result is that processes are often cluttered, there is no clear direction, there are always too many cooks in the kitchen, and everyone is jockeying for position given that there is such overlap in rolls and responsibilities. It is surprising that a Company of this scale doesn’t have someone dedicated to just overseeing operations and processes and ensuring that the Company runs smoothly. So many frustrations, late nights, and employee turnover is the result of Moda’s inefficiencies alone. Moda is no longer a small company / the founder’s hobby, but it is actually a real company that requires structure and planning and it should be run accordingly. 3) Inability (or unwillingness) to embrace and promote diversity a. To be clear, diversity doesn’t mean black vs. white vs. indian or rich vs. poor. Diversity means diversity of thought, religion, background, race, sexual preference, gender, etc., the list goes on. Some (not all) of the biggest fashion houses of the world have learned to embrace diversity (over time) and help promote a culture of inclusion and acceptance. To give Moda credit, the Company has defined and catered to its core demographic, the ‘Moda-woman’ for the past 10+ years. The problem is that the ‘Moda-woman’ is unofficially synonymous with ‘rich, white, princess, and entitled’. It is shocking to hear how the Company attempts to sprinkle in diversity when it is convenient or when it ‘has been awhile’. Or how the Company expects to be applauded for its efforts as if it was a chore. Or how the Company’s idea of diversity is exactly what you would expect from someone who is tone-deaf and has no cultural perspective outside of their own entitlement. I don’t think the culture carriers and people in power at Moda are racist or prejudice, I think they are ignorant, insensitive, and are oblivious to others’ perspectives. Additionally, there is an ‘us’ vs. ‘them’ mentality in which some individuals think they are better than others. I believe that this culture and belief system is who/what Moda has become. 4) Human Resources a. A true HR department should sit above board and serve as a resource for employees and work for the employees i. Moda HR’s department works for ‘the-powers-to-be’ and does not have the employees’ best interests in mind. Employees don’t raise issues with HR out of fear that their conversations will be shared with their teams and they’ll be retaliated against. It is mind-blowing that at a company of Moda’s size and scale that there is no way for employees to review senior managers. What exactly then are managers being assessed on? ii. Career path / trajectory 1. There is no clear rubric on how employees are graded and assessed during mid-year and end-year evaluations. For example, most employers are transparent about the 5 or 6 areas that employees will be judged. Instead, Moda’s feedback is arbitrary, and generally unhelpful. Additionally, there is no science to promotion or career trajectory. Promotions seem to be based on favoritism as opposed to being merit-based 5) All of the above points have led to the toxic culture at Moda. It is simply a frustrating place to work evidenced by the high employee turnover.