Former staff of Canadian fashion giant Aritzia open up about ‘culture of fear’. 4 toxic workplace red flags you should never ignore

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Aritzia have spoken about the toxic company culture. In an interview with Insider, the former employees described in vivid detail the “exploitative” culture at Aritzia. Besides the inhuman amount of work pressure, the employees were also subjected to various sorts of psychological abuse and microaggressions.

One employee toldInsider, “I think a lot of people in that organisation feel worthless. They have been berated and degraded for so long.” Another spoke about how the staff used to dread company meetings, as they were often subjected to public taunts and humiliating remarks from the CEO Brian Hill who would rebuke them for not sticking to facts. “If you said ‘so many’ or ‘a lot,’ he would go off for five minutes about using facts,” one individual claimed.

“It definitely came across as public humiliation.” Hill also subjected the staff to various bizarre tests like and then humiliate them thoroughly if they appeared to fail. “He once held up a pen and asked an employee: ‘What is this?’ When she replied that it was a pen, he threw it, saying: ‘Wrong, it’s a blue pen,” an employee told the Insider. They also revealed that their former boss really wanted to “tear down” the self esteem of the employees so that he could gain the upper hand.

The employees also revealed that the company culture was marred with open acts of favouritism and look-shaming. Many employees were kept, promoted or let go, depending on their appearance. “He definitely plays a bit of a hot-or-not game,” one staff revealed.

“We don’t need to keep this girl; she’s not cute.’ This girl can get promoted because she looks a certain way,’” they said. Employees were often encouraged to “rate” each other on the basis of their appearance. There was also rampant