Comment by mintplant | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mintplant | Hacker News Reader

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The abuses described in the Verge article [0] are painful to hear about. Just try and read the CEO's Slack screed about "teaching accountability" without sounding like a DreamWorks villain. Think about the hours those employees were forced to work, the time off they were deprived, the family trips and plans repeatedly disrupted with the slimmest of notice, if any. The Away management team comes across as manipulative and maximally exploitative at the expense of their employees' well-beings, topped off with a CEO intent on forcing her abysmal work-life balance and sleep schedule on the rest of her staff.

With that all laid out, Graham's flippant comment that companies can "safely ignore" backlash against such business practices strikes me as callous and out-of-touch, particularly given his role in the venture-funded system which fosters such conditions in the first place. Another dispatch from the world of rich guys that would have the rest of us slaving away in China's 9-9-6 model [1], interspersed in their feeds with reports of the little moments with family and friends that they'd rather we exchange for a few extra percentage points on their returns.

[0] https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/5/20995453/away-luggage-ceo...

[1] https://www.ft.com/content/42daca9e-facc-11e7-9bfc-052cbba03...

>Just try and read the CEO's Slack screed about "teaching accountability" without sounding like a DreamWorks villain...

I did. Let's not overstate it.

>The Away management team comes across as manipulative and maximally exploitative at the expense of their employees' well-beings, topped off with a CEO intent on forcing her abysmal work-life balance and sleep schedule on the rest of her staff.

This comes across the same way the Verge article does. Namely, it feels like you're just looking for things to be offended by. The specifics are minor and trivial and interesting enough as a case study but certainly not interesting enough as a national story about some great wrong-doing.

Here's a random excerpt:

"Employees say she swore during interviews, cackled at people’s jokes, and took new hires to lunch, telling stories about her own mistakes. Once, during an interview, a woman remarked that she was drawn to Away because she was a millennial and it was a millennial-friendly product. “I’m a millennial, too,” Korey said. Later, that same employee was told by her manager that Korey had referred to the team as a bunch of “millennial twats.”"

I'm not sure what relevance 'cackling' at jokes is (though it evokes sexist tropes) but outside of that, COME ON. That's just pilling on hoping something sticks because it's all a big pile of nothing.

There is also an anecdote about Korey shutting down a private slack channel because of toxic and racist messages and reprimanded the employees in question. The story backs this up by referencing messages that called out 'cis white men', but the article then spins it as: "“It just became really obvious that this happened because someone white and powerful got offended,” says the customer experience manager, Lindsey." ... yeah. I think I'm with Korey on this. She made the right move.

Why did you take random excerpts instead of looking for the more serious allegations, one of which the parent mentioned.

"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.”"

>Why did you take random excerpts instead of looking for the more serious allegations, one of which the parent mentioned.

Conversely, why is The Verge pilling on with insignificant allegations?

I didn't ignore anything because there were no serious allegations AT ALL. All the allegations were in the same spirit. Yes, even the one you cited. I'm not defending Korey as a great manager. I'm just not seeing a national story here. The fact that what you cited is provided without context is also telling because the entire article is written with one anecdote after another - with a very loose narrative woven in.

And by the way, pto (not to be confused with vacation time) and wfh, are usually a privilege. Some places do not let you do either. What is this great harm that was done when these perks were denied that required national attention (again, not saying Korey is great manager, or Away was a great place to work - but far from terrible. Have you worked at, for example, a factory?)

Is there a non-paywalled version of [1] ?

Sorry, try Googling "Silicon Valley would be wise to follow China’s lead" and click through from there. FT seems to let you through if you have the right referrer.

Alternatively: https://theoutline.com/post/2996/michael-moritz-china-essay-...

Thanks!

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