The state of this company is a sad....sad story. I no longer can tell others from the outside I work here. Everywhere I turn the stories are negative and not getting any better. The stock is in a downward spiral. The mismanagement from the Board to the CEO to the President to some of the most incompetent EVP's, SVP's and VP's is sickening. Many who are only looking to pad their bank account and believe they can treat others as though they are not human. We have lost too many good people who really cared and brought a different point of view because of the trouble above. I think I am ready to accept another offer and leave even though I love the brands and what they can do for children around the world. Bye Mattel.
14 replies (most recent on top)
And now like rats on a sinking ship everyone turns on each other. Blame everyone else. Some poster said that this predicament has long been in the making. And he/she's so right. It's a curse every large company encounters. Everything is specialized to the nth degree that the machine grinds to a halt. No one can make a decision, committees for everything, everything's a debate. And when they act is always too little too late. If everyone just sits there and blames each other and doesn't actually do something about it then you'll all drown while fighting each other as the ship goes down.
"The company over the past years hired great people with stellar experiences."
The problem is "stellar experiences" in selling mayonnaise, or cheese food product, or flavored sugar water, has NOTHING to do with the business we are in. NOTHING. These people can be the best frozen dinner marketer in the history of the world, but that does not set them up to succeed n the toy business.
Not to mention the dotcommers who worked for companies that didn't make any real world, tangible product. EVER. If you don't have a full understanding of design cycle, manufacturing, and marketing hardlines, getting the most out of planograms, then what exactly do you bring to the table?
Dear Sister Mary Positive:
When a company systematically fires and layoffs older workers, in a vain attempt to make it's number and then hires hacks like RG, RD, CS, SM, SL and CBS, employees affected by them and their poor decisions are entitled to cheer at their demise.
When remaining employees criticize those that left for holding baggage, you show your ignorance because you think you're better than those that left (you're not, you're just cheaper) and you think it won't happen to you (but it will). This site was built for these criticisms and your comments indicate you can't read, either.
As for me, I enjoy watching Mattel burn to the ground. It's a company that deserves to be cut up and sold off because it's horrible at planning it's business and how it treats it's employees. I don't wish any harm to come to anyone still there, but the end IS coming - there is no way to stop it and if there is, I dare you to spell it out WITH NUMBERS because just making cute toys isn't the answer.
The company over the past years hired great people with stellar experiences. The issue has been they are being asked to fix the unfixable. Therefore they leave or asked to leave or they become people that lose their leadership skills due to the frustration of the Mattel situation. Many go on to do great things because they are removed from a broken business model. The other posters are correct that the root cause of this problem goes back many years. Unfortunately it is impacting the Mattel employees today. Now there are many other industries and companies in a secular decline that have the same problem. I just think this is another that seems too far gone and insurmountable. We'll see.
Last poster:
It's not about baggage, my friend. It's just reality. I wish it were different, but the point of it all is that Mattel has only ever used it's stranglehold on fashion dolls to leverage all it's other brands and should've known the day would come when Barbie and fashion dolls ran out of gas for the consumer.
You can try all you want to make it a sunny day in ol' El Segundo, but the fact is that the company cannot possibly recover from the hole it's in because it has nothing to make up for it and no time to do it in. Just look at the stock - down AGAIN today. It's not the employees' fault, but those of us that are on the outside DO enjoy a bit of glee in seeing the once mighty Mattel get brought to it's knees by.............................Barbie. It's ironic but will be a testament to all companies not to diversify with both revenue and profit because one day, every sacred cow will inevitably run out of milk.
Dear anger johnny-
I've been at this place a hell of a long time to know that you bring your baggage with you. And you sound like you're being charged with excess baggage fees up the wazoo. If you can't see things for how you want things to be and only see yourself as a victim then you're one miserable f>{£. And there's nothing anyone can say to you. Your only joy in life will be to convince people to join you in holding your bag of sadness, and it's a large a heavy bag indeed. Look, life at the big M isn't summed up by a kitten poster we all know that. But it also isn't summed up by your Voldemort musings.
That said if you'd like to continue your tirade then by all means do so, certainly this is what the site is for. Just don't think that you are not accountable for the things that happen here as well.
Sister Mary Positive
To the least poster - Dear Sister Mary Positive:
Grow up and get your head out of your butt. You sound like an advertisement for a religious retreat. It's never kumbaya in a business and you certainly aren't suited for it, if they best you can come up with is what you posted.
Learn that:
1) There are bad people in the company that will plot your demise for their gain
2) You need to be as cutthroat as they are to survive
3) Mattel can never recover from the hole it's in
You can choose to find what is bad in a place or you can choose to celebrate what is good. There is always greed and jerks wherever you go. Just like good and caring people.
I don't think you realize that the grass really is greener on the other side in most cases. And those who moved on, whether voluntarily or not, are by and large incredibly thankful they aren't still at Mattel, AG, FP, or HIT and don't miss it at all.
Thanks OP. I hope you enjoy your new job at jack in the box. We're all rooting for you!
All kidding aside. Jump if you're going to.
You think the grass is greener over there? Let us know how the AstroTurf feels like. Tell everyone how it feels to work a full Friday again. How it feels to work between Christmas and New Years again. You're so spoiled and bratty I can't stand it. Don't blame the millennials because they're dumb.
I've been through most of these kinds of times for so many years. Everyone panics and everyone starts complaining about everyone else.
And then it passes. And people start complaining about their favorite human piñatas all over again blaming them for their woes of not being able to make super expensive products or useless Comicon toys. In the final analysis be aware that this is the business Mattel is in and there's only so many dollars that mom and kids will spend. Everyone is greedy from execs to retailers to yourselves. So just stop your whining about greed. There are ways out of this but they require even more changes. It will get even worse before it gets better. So put on your cry baby helmet and strap in.
to last poster: It must be so satisfying to be an entitled 20-something millennial who knows so much about the corporate world. Your inexperience and infantile commentary are showing. The ONLY reason you're still at the company is because you're CHEAP to hire and easily placated with meaningless promotions just because you showed up.
The bottom line is you and your kind lack the experience and the maturity to turn Mattel around. Really, what have you actually done?! I get the biggest kick out of the LinkedIn postings that show you millennials frolicking around the campus like wood nymphs. The f*g company is literally tumbling to the ground and the idiots in HR think shareholders are swayed by talking about all the interns wearing matching T-shirts and eating from food trucks. Yeah, those activities are sure going to raise the stock price.
Like you even still work at the company, original poster. I just bet you wish someone else had offered you a job (a.k.a. "fake news"). 95% of these posts are from ex-employees that are just bitter because they were let go for poor performance, whiny attitudes (as demonstrated here), or lack of talent in their field/position. You all should have got on the government dole as a cop, fireman, city hall clerk, or whatever. But then you'd be whining that your plum pensions weren't paying you enough. Obviously you weren't cut out for the corporate world, ruthless as it seems to you. Whaaa! Get over it.
Hang on at least until we see if we make it into either the Top 100 Places to Work or the World's Most Ethical Companies. It's been a while, but surely our turn is coming!