Lululemon Employees Report A Toxic ‘Boy’s Club’ Culture
“Elevating the world from mediocrity to greatness.” That’s one of the painted mantras on display in the lobby of Lululemon’s Vancouver headquarters, and one that’s at odds with what current and former employees describe as a toxic work environment at the fitness apparel company. They say misconduct was enabled for years by Lululemon’s human resources department and, until recently, embodied by its ex-CEO. Last week, the company announced CEO Laurent Potdevin’s resignation from both his position at Lululemon and its board of directors. While Lululemon gave vague reasoning for the exit, merely offering that Potdevin had fallen short of company standards of conduct, sources tell Racked that Potdevin maintained a years-long relationship with an employee (as first reported by CNBC) and thrived off of the company’s unprofessional work setting. Potdevin, formerly president of Toms and CEO of Burton, had been dating a designer at the company since 2014; the designer resigned that same year, but was subsequently brought on as a contractor for several projects. Before her resignation, Potdevin had divulged the nature of their relationship to the entire company at a corporate all-hands meeting, which was also recorded and emailed out to stores. Read more at Racked.
