Pros
Employee discount, the ability to work from home, the $85 wellness allowance that you can use towards yoga classes/gym membership, products that work, free weekly virtual yoga class. Co-workers, for the most part, are also very helpful. They offer paid holidays, healthcare options, and 401k. The brand also cares about Yoga teachers and the environment, which is very important for a Yoga company.
Cons
- In my opinion, there is no work-life balance: Many meetings start at 8:30am, sometimes 8am, which is challenging for parents with children whom they need to drop off to school. Team members, including supervisors, will text you outside work hours and even during your days off. Leadership will be working during their time off, which sets a precedent for employees that everyone is still expected to work during their time off. - Lack of trust in employees. The CEO is very hands-on in many aspects of the business. While it's great to have active participation from leadership, it also slows down decision-making and lowers morale because team members aren't given the trust and room they need to spread their wings and do their jobs. Lots of things end up being rushed, not well thought out, and done last minute. This puts the business at risk. - To my knowledge there is no giveback to the birthplace of Yoga (India): To me, It's important for any company, especially a Western and non-POC founded company, to give financial credit to the culture that they've extracted value from. Manduka, from my knowledge, does not incorporate giving back to India in their mission or philanthropy efforts. - There is very little process. For a company that has been around for over 25 years, I expected there to be SOP's, a structured onboarding process, brand guidelines, and a company chart. None of this existed, which makes acclimating to a new role, a new team, and a company very difficult. It runs like a startup that has limited technological capabilities. - The grind culture is celebrated and rewarded with praise by the CEO. - Employees' experiences aren't heard and are invalidated. During a leadership meeting, employees were asked how they are doing. Many communicated that they feel overwhelmed and have a lot going on with work and their personal lives. The CEO responded with something to the likes of, "We've all got a lot going on. A family member of mine just died but I'm still powering through. We've got goals to hit." To me, that was an opportunity to pause, to build connection, learn what employees need, and rethink the company goals. - Changing expectations: I was brought on with specific year-end goals to hit, which is normal. It takes at least 12-18 months to really make an impact and feel confident in a leadership role. Goals were added on to my expectations and I was then told that I was not producing the results they expected after being there for a couple of months. I asked them, what they expected from me in that time. I also wrote down a thoughtful list of recommendations on what we can improve together and realistic goals. No response from supervisors. I'm no longer there. - The principles of Yoga are not practiced. Yoga advocates for love and speaks out against violence. It promotes balance, taking a pause, and prioritizing physical, mental, and spiritual health. The way this company overly pushes their employees, takes on unrealistic sales goals, and expects people to work outside normal hours is not how any company, especially a yoga company, should operate.