Work Environment at Lululemon

Work Environment at Lululemon

Gustavo De Novaes
Spring 2024

Project goals and Background Research 

For the past 2 years, I have worked for the retail company, lululemon. In these two years of being an employee, you see what it is like to be apart of such a huge community. I first heard of lululemon when I began to shop there and then when I moved from New Jersey to Florida, I took an interest to apply to work for lululemon. When I first started working there, the positivity was very apparent and everyone enjoyed working there. However in the last two years working there, I've seen sudden management changes that cause the work environment to adapt into new management styles and cause the "cliques" that are formed at work to also change due to management. As seen with this article posted by the "New York Post"  it focuses on how lululemon has "cult-like" tendencies and as said by a former employee Erin, "I think they definitely don't appreciate all types of personalities". Lululemon is very big on "clearing" and having their own norms and values, essientially what it is, is you are allowed to talk about your life positively and negatively and let it "air out" during the start of your shift. In the same "New York Post" article, another employee named Amy says, "“Maybe you had a really bad day, something bad happened with your boyfriend or with a parent or whatever — you would clear that in a clearing,” Amy explained. “And then after clearing that, you are expected to just kind of bounce back as this idealized, superpositive Lululemon robot.” I have experienced this treatment first hand and have been expected to just jump back in after having a terrible day mentally. As seen with on their actual job website "lululemon careers "At lululemon, we work together to elevate the world. We set audacious goals, nurture big growth and engineer innovative products that allow people to feel—and perform—their best. To us, leadership is more than a role or title—it’s a way of being. We are all leaders, committed to growth and results" With their establishment, they believe the role of being a leader comes first, instead role of being a human and I see that as huge disadvantage for their crowd and how they establish what is successful for them as a company. My job with this research is to determine if my other employees feel the same way about working in a retail company, like lululemon. The work atmosphere is so important in any time of work environment and what as a "retail society" can we do to fix that?

Methodology 

With this research, I decided to tackle on the question on how can we change the toxic atmosphere and what causes that to happen in a "retail society"? With this question, I focused on primarily an observation and interviewing some of my co workers. With my observation, I have faced many positive and negative outcomes to the whether the work environment is toxic or not. For example, a positive one being when I first moved here from New Jersey to Florida, I depended on my job at lululemon to make friends and feel social again which ended up coming true with time. However when it comes to getting along with your co -workers, there is definitely going to be drama involved, which can ultimately leave it being a negative result. For instance my co-worker named Kylie became an assistant manager for lululemon, however the company's rules stated that she could not socialize with co-workers who were not other mangers, which ultimately led her to become a "conflict of interest" and getting terminated. After being terminated by the company, I later interviewed Kylie to see what her life has been like, since she has stepped down from her role as assistant manager and no longer works for the company. 

Results

With my results, I found them to be what I was expecting, but also with some online research I also found them to be a bit surprising as well. In my interview with Kylie, she expressed to be what a relief it was to no longer be with the company. She felt as a if the company was doing their best to push her away from everyone and it ultimately led her to her breaking away and being alright with being terminated. Eventually after getting let go of the company, Kylie now is the manager of swimsuit boutique and enjoys it a lot more now that she creates the schedule (and receives better pay). With some other shocking results, I have found a majority of people do not have the same experience as some of my co-workers and myself included have experienced. According to "Great Place to Work", 82% of lululemon employees say that it is a great place to work. This leads to believe due to the difference in management and a corporate company like lululemon, not all work environments would ultimately lead to having the same outcomes. My results are mostly gathered from my first hand knowledge and observation from what I have seen take place in the last two years of working in retail. 

 

The results that compares lululemon to other typical retail companies for being a "great place to work". 

Inside view of a Lululemon store. 

Discussion and Conclusion 

I feel that this conversation of the toxic work environment can lead to a significant amount of conversation not only in the work world, but in the sociology world as a well. There can be many studies that ultimately lead into discussion about what causes so much stress and anxiety for people. Many people that work in corporate companies feel that they are being alienated and casted out from the rest of the work environment. The way many companies are in a staggered way through "structural functionalism"and they attempt to work together to create a positive outcome, however it ultimately leads to "conflict theory". Conflict theory essentially ties into the toxic work environment and how the higher ends of management always feel they need to meet corporate needs and follows the rules, instead of their employees needs. Finally, with all these results this ultimately led me putting in my final days working in retail for lululemon. I respect their passion for bringing communities together, however it is also important to bring the work environment and their employers together. 

Works Cited/References/Acknowledgements:  

New York Post. “'Super-positive Lululemon robot:' Staff call workplace 'toxic.'” New York Post, 13 April 2021, https://nypost.com/2021/04/13/super-positive-lululemon-robot-staff-call-workplace-toxic/. Accessed 7 April 2024.

“What we do.” Lululemon Careers, https://careers.lululemon.com/en_US/careers/WhatWeDo. Accessed 7 April 2024.

“Working at lululemon athletica inc.” Great Place To Work, https://www.greatplacetowork.com/certified-company/1100678. Accessed 7 April 2024.