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So we should stop shopping Sephora because they not only are owned by a billionaire who could have kept all employees paid this spring but they fired people who went into cosmetology school debt on the understanding that Sephora would pay the debt entirely
And they fired people in a mass phone call where they didn’t mute people so people had to listen to each other freaking out
It’s one of the worst stories I’ve heard of a major company laying people off due to COVID
It’s one of the worst stories I’ve heard of a major company laying people off due to COVID
But also I’ve managed to find most things I would buy at Sephora discounted somewhere else without having to wait for the 20% off sale. It just requires doing a little searching online. Having VIB and rouge status is actually not very worth it financially, so no big loss there.
Sephora made a big scene about standing by workers but then completely fucked them over and they are a privately held company that didn’t need to be responsive to investors and they are held by an actual billionaire so this isn’t your local mom and pop shop that is struggling.
I have no idea if they rehired people but the story of telling people to go into debt that would be paid off after a certain amount of time and then leaving them to struggle with that debt ... it’s predatory behavior.
Alternatives for folks looking for skincare and makeup: Dermstore permanently discounts anything you label as a favorite and the product makers have sales sometimes multiple times a year on their websites, usually 20% off.
Once I stopped shopping Sephora I realized actually it wasn’t even a good deal financially during sales times
But when stores reopen I will miss going in person
But when stores reopen I will miss going in person
Someone recently gave me a gift card which I just spent down and while using it I was very aware that actually I didn’t need the deals Sephora seemed to offer, like at all (although having a one stop gift card shop is great and that’s a loss too)
Details from spring in an article and then I will link to some employee tweets in the thread below: https://www.businessinsider.com/sephora-fires-employees-via-sudden-conference-call-2020-4
"The three laid off employees who spoke with TODAY Style said they were offered one week of severance pay, which was based on the average number of hours they had worked per week over the past six weeks." https://www.today.com/style/sephora-employees-blindsided-mass-layoffs-during-coronavirus-shutdown-t177487
"offered us one week of severance, but because my hours had been limited, it was only $278. And when I read the fine print ...I couldn’t say anything about how Sephora treated me and other part-time workers, and that didn’t sit right with me. So I didn’t." https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/18/opinion/sephora-layoffs-coronavirus.html
"For Grace, the hardest part was when she was reminded to use her employee discount before her employment was officially terminated." https://www.adweek.com/retail/for-sephora-workers-unceremonious-layoffs-were-sudden-but-understandable/
