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James Beard Award-winning chef René Redzepi, who co-founded the iconic, Michelin Starred Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, announced his resignation on Wednesday. The announcement comes following years of allegations of abuse, assault, and the creation of a toxic work environment at the restaurant which is one of the world’s most famous, influential and acclaimed dining spots. Back in 2017, at the height of the #MeToo movement, entire industries were upended with a long-overdue, global reckoning that held countless high-profile men accountable for past behavior of abuse, leading to widespread cultural and workplace change. The chauvinistic toxicity of the restaurant industry was especially highlighted, with big names like Mario Batali, Todd English, John Besh and many others hit with abuse allegations that triggered restaurant closures and public resignations. Now, nearly a decade later, the latest incident with Redzepi underscores just how far the workforce, and the restaurant world in particular, may still have to go to create safe workspaces that operate at the most elite levels in their industriesand to hold perpetrators accountable. Jessica Kriegel, Chief Strategy Officer at workplace consultancy firm Culture Partners, tells Fast Company that restaurants are “pressure cookers,” but asserts that shouldn’t excuse abusein restaurants, or any other workplace led by highly successful leaders highly visible in their field. Dismantling the mythology of the brilliant tyrant While abuse claims followed Redzepi for years, the heat on the chef reached a boiling point after an explosive New York Times report was published earlier this month. The piece detailed Redzepi’s alleged abuse from 2009 to 2017, with reports of a kitchen being run by “unpaid interns” working 16-hour shifts, a habit of “public shaming,” and an explosive episode that involved punching an employee. Employees said that kind of abuse was common: Going to work felt like going to war, former employee Alessia, who didn’t want her surname to be published in the piece, told the outlet. You had to force yourself to be strong, to show no fear. The bombshell NYT report came just ahead of a new Noma pop-up’s opening in Los Angeles. When the pop-up opened on March 11, a crowd of protesters were outside. Key sponsors like American Express, Resy and Blackbird had pulled their funding the day before. The chef’s resignation soon followed. I have worked to be a better leader and Noma has taken big steps to transform the culture over many years, Redzepi wrote on Instagram following the opening. I recognize these changes do not repair the past. An apology is not enough; I take responsibility for my own actions. In a post just days earlier, Redzepi also acknowledged his abusive behavior, which he admitted involved physical acts of aggression, and said he was simply “not able to handle the pressure.” Fast Company has reached out to Noma for comment. While workplace culture has undeniably changed in recent years, as individuals (especially women) have spoken out more frequently about workplace harassment and abuse thanks to the #MeToo movement, challenges still exist. Working in an office and a restaurant are drastically different experiences, for examplethe latter tends to be an extraordinarily fast-paced environment that can lend itself to toxic conditions. Kriegel says that more recent representation on shows like The Bear, coupled with brave employee voices, could be helping to bring about some long-awaited change within the industry. The Emmy-winning Hulu hit features toxic bosses at world-class restaurants, but it also shows the impactincluding traumato employees. “Workers are speaking up, and audiences are starting to see the human cost behind the mythology of the ‘brilliant tyrant,'” Kriegel explains. “Shows like The Bear are great because they dont just glorify the chaos of the kitchen. They show what it does to people.” According to a 2021 survey of 4,700 restaurant workers from Black Box Intelligence, 49% of restaurant workers experience emotional abuse from managers, and 15% reported being sexually harassed by managers or coworkers. (Thats not even including abuse from customers: 62% of respondents said they receive emotional abuse or disrespect from customers, and another 15% are sexually harassed by them.)Kriegel says that the narrative is definitely beginning to shift, even when it comes to the restaurant industry. “The world is moving away from tolerating abusive leadership simply because someone is talented,” Kriegel explains. If Redzepi’s resignation is any indication, that may be true.
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E-Commerce
Nothing says springtime like a canvas tote drop from Trader Joe’s. That’s right. The highly anticipated shopping bags are back and ready to fly off the shelves (and, probably, the resale sites) once again. Trader Joe’s totes are historically massively popular. The brand’s mini totes, which are just 13-by-11-by-6 inches, first dropped in 2024 and became an instant sensation after going mega-viral on TikTok. Once they sold out, they quickly began popping up on resale sites. While the totes only cost $2.99 in stores, resellers majorly marked them up, with some listing the bags for hundreds or even thousands. Since 2024, Trader Joe’s has released a few other versions of the totes as well, like Halloween-themed bags, which were also massively popular. Now, the bags are coming back, and this time, you can get one in a larger (more practical?) size. Nakia Rohde, a Trader Joes spokesperson, told Fast Company that the “next new bag will be a large canvas bag with lavender handles and a pink logo.” That means you’ll be able to hold way more TJ’s goods. But if your heart is set on the mini bag, don’t fret. They are heading back to stores this spring, and they’ll be popping up in the same springtime colors as last year: delicate pink, baby blue, mint green, and lovely lavender. Still, you’ll have to stay nearby Trader Joe’s if you want to snag one. Rohde did not give an exact date that any of the totes will be available nationwide, but said they should be in stores by mid-March, with dates varying based on location. It may also be a good idea to refer to your local TikTok influencer. TJ’s tote bags are certainly not the first item to experience viral fame that leads to an instant surge in purchases. Stanley tumblers, mini waffle makers, beauty products, and tons of other everyday items have, too. However, the Trader Joe’s totes have not seemed to lose their luster since they first arrived on the scene. And, remarkably, it all happened without the brand even having to advertise the bags at all. Our Mini Canvas Tote Bags certainly sold more quickly than we anticipated, Rohde told AP News in 2024. Before we had the opportunity to promote them in any way, customers across the country found them at their neighborhood Trader Joes.
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E-Commerce
Pay transparency laws were supposed to address the pay disparities that tend to impact women and people of color in the workplace. Over the last decade, 15 states have introduced laws that require varying degrees of disclosure from employers, from including explicit salary ranges in job postings to verbally sharing those details with prospective employees during the interview process. But new research out of Cornell University indicates that those laws have not been as effective as intendedin part because many employers fail to truly comply with them. These laws often do not clearly articulate how broad a salary range should be, and simply instruct companies to provide a good faith salary range. (The pay transparency law in New York, for example, states that at the time a job is posted, the range must be the minimum and maximum annual salary, or hourly rate the employer believes, in good faith, they are willing to pay.) As Fast Company has previously reported, this means some employers provide broad salary ranges that technically abide by the law, but are of little use to job applicants. Cornells findings show that these wide salary bands can have the exact opposite effect than was intended by advocates of pay transparency: Across four studies, researchers saw significant variation in the breadth of salary rangesand a clear pattern of women preferring jobs with narrower salary bands compared to their male counterparts. So even as pay transparency laws have sought to put all applicants on even footing, women are often discouraged from applying to jobs with wide salary ranges, reinforcing gender-based pay gaps. But it turns out women face obstacles even when they opt for jobs with narrower ranges. In terms of the implications of this work, those that applied to narrower pay ranges then negotiated less assertively, says Alice Lee, the lead author and assistant professor of organizational behavior at Cornells School of Industrial and Labor Relations. If women are sorting into jobs with narrow pay ranges, that is then constraining their likelihood to negotiate assertively for a higher salaryand these policies that are intended to mitigate these gaps might be actually perpetuating these gaps. Lees research team conducted a collection of studies to understand the effects of pay transparency laws. In an analysis of nearly 10 million job postings, they found a broad spectrum of pay ranges. Two following studies looked at how applicants responded to different job postings, along with how they negotiated when they started interviewing. A final study tested out a few interventions that the researchers thought might encourage women to apply to jobs with wider ranges. There were a few things that did seem to make a difference for female applicantsnamely, being more transparent about how compensation was determined in the original job posting. We just included some clarifying information to the job ads in addition to the pay ranges we provided, Lee says. It was just two sentences that informed applicants of the typical starting salary, as well as sort of the qualifications and the system through which pay is determined . . . for those that saw the job ad with this clarifying information, women applied just as frequently as men to jobs with wider pay ranges, and we also saw no gender gap in negotiation behavior. As Fast Company has reported, overly broad salary ranges have been a recurring issue in states that have enacted these laws. The language of these pay transparency laws leaves room for interpretation, and many employers are not particularly incentivized to volunteer more information than necessary. (Pay transparency laws could impose stricter limits on salary bands, as is the case in states like New Jerseythough this might be a tough sell in regions where corporate interests hold more sway.) The state agencies that enforce these laws tend to prioritize the most flagrant violationsemployers who openly flout the law and do not disclose any salary range, for examplewhich means there are fewer repercussions for companies that effectively try to get around the law by posting unhelpful salary ranges. In New York City, for example, the New York City Commission on Human Rights brought 33 complaints against a variety of employers in the year after the citys pay transparency law took effect in late 2022. But the vast majority of those complaints focused on companies that had neglected to include any salary information in their job postings. While the agency did bring a handful of complaints against companies that used very broad ranges, Fast Companys reporting found that there were other major employers who posted jobs with salary bands that spanned about $100,000. Employers have their reasons for posting wide salary ranges. Many of them want to stay competitive to attract the best talentwhich can mean leaving some room for negotiating compensation, even if that might exacerbate pay disparities. Sometimes companies dont have a clear compensation strategy and scramble to come up with an appropriate salary band, which is especially likely for AI roles that are in demand and can command high salaries. But companies can send the wrong message when they use broad salary rangesin turn alienating prospective employees. Lee says there is an element of risk aversion that also plays into why women are more likely to steer clear of broad salary ranges. Job applicants may also make assumptions about how much a company values equitable pay practices or the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion more broadly. If a company cares about [diverse talent]which I think, personally, all companies shouldthen they should absolutely care about what their pay ranges are signaling, Lee says. For employers who purport to care about pay equity, Cornells research suggests that employers only need to take a few steps to embrace the spirit of these pay transparency laws. Providing even minimal context on how compensation is determinedalong with a typical starting salarygoes a long way. The researchers found that women responded positively to relatively basic language, which noted your exact offer will reflect your relevant experience, skill level and the responsibilities of the role, in line with our standardized compensation guidelines. In some cases, Lee says, it might make sense for a company to use a large salary band, but outline specific pay tiers within that range, based on experience and qualifications. Lee points out that these laws do give workers an opening to ask more questions about compensation and advocate for themselves. But ultimately, its companies who hold a lot of power in those negotiations, regardless of legal protectionsand many of them may not even be aware of the message they are sending to prospective employees. I do thinkI hopethat some employers do truly care about attracting [diverse] talent, and you might be constraining and preventing many of those people without even knowing so, Lee says. I think these findings might come as a surprise to some people.
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E-Commerce
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