Manduka Reviews

2.6

36% would recommend to a friend

(73 total reviews)

42% positive business outlook

Manduka has an employee rating of 2.6 out of 5 stars, based on 73 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Manduka employee rating is 26% below average for employers within the Retail and wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

73 reviews
4.0
12 June 2022

Work in progress

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Passionate leadership with skin in the game.

Cons

Operational shortcomings from being under resourced

1.0
28 Mar 2017

how private equity kills Manduka's DNA

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great product design and quality

Cons

In the past few months I have been witness to the acquisition of the amazing company Manduka by Valor. Although Manduka has almost in an innocently way become one of the world’s largest yoga props company (hard goods… Lululemon is obviously bigger because of its apparel volume business), the company appeared an easy target for operational efficiency improvement programs. Truth be said, the company surfed – almost literally being so close to the El Segundo Pacific Ocean coastline – on a wave of customer demand and pull effects. But the business proposition was clear and un-nuanced: a sustainable high quality almost ridiculously expensive yoga mat with lifelong warranty, sold primarily through an ambassador network of yogis. Anyone would almost believe that with a few hard core copy paste distribution strategies and let’s throw in a call center, one could quadruple sales while cutting some costs here and there. Return on investment guaranteed. A cynic would dare to argue that in good old Enron days all these future profits could already be booked and shown as return to a hungry investor base. A few months later one of Valor’s partners must like the SoCal weather and still acts as CEO and could mistake yoga mats for flowers. Wiz kids flying in and out with a common denominator of a few weeks stay, never to be seen after. IT systems crashing under constant change. Management by fear leading to employment dissatisfaction and staff retention at an all time low. The top notch empty yoga studio in the middle of the headquarters craving for another ancient sacred sound of om.

avatar
Manduka Response
8y
Thank you for your post. We respect your points and thank you for sharing them. For the benefit of potential applicants, we would like to share our perspective on the many exciting changes at Manduka, and why, if you are ambitious, talented, driven by mission, enjoy challenging projects and want to be with a company you are proud of, Manduka may be right for you. As noted, Manduka has embarked on an effort to shift from a pure product company to one driven by our mission and values with products and services that are valued by our customers. This effort has required us to change many things including expanding our staff by over 50%, creating 32 new jobs, promoting 20+ people, rebuilding our sales, technology and supply chain processes all of which have dramatically improved our products, growth rate and the profitability of the company. We also launched projectOM, a yoga class to raise money for women with breast cancer. The event had 600+ locations, bringing together over 750,000 participants to help raise funds for Susan G. Komen. This was the largest charity yoga event ever held and was driven by the highly passionate people at Manduka. Further, our live and on-demand yoga classes give busy people the ability to practice with Manduka instructors from their home, our industry-leading products continue to distance themselves from the competition, and most importantly, our community of 2M consumers, 4,000 yoga studios, and 1,000 ambassadors remains strong and drives us to continuously improve all we do. You are correct to point out that these changes have not been easy, in particular for those who prefer an environment where one can "surf" their way to success. We are very thankful for the many great people who have helped make these changes happen. They are making a difference at Manduka and in the lives of yoga practitioners all over the world. Like Facebook, Google, Patagonia and many other great companies, we are inspired by purpose. At Manduka our purpose is to "Inspire the practice of yoga." We believe that when people practice yoga, they become stronger, more confident, less stressed, and more thoughtful of others and our environment. To accomplish this, we are building an amazing team of incredibly talented, dedicated and resilient people. People who believe in our mission and practice the core values that are the DNA of Manduka: 1. Honor the legacy of yoga 2. Recognize its larger purpose 3. Create great products 4. Think big in everything we do 5. Go green - it is the right thing to do 6. Work holistically 7. Be kind to each other, and Practice On These values are practiced by the great people leading Manduka and are the attributes we hire for. If you are considering working at Manduka, you will fit right in if you are smart, ambitious, talented, identify with our mission, practice our values and want to build a company based on purpose and mission. In addition to building a great company, we believe in having a good time! While working hard is required, you would still have time to ‘surf’, skate, paint, or play ball…whatever your preference. And, like many of our team you would be able to take any of the 4-5 yoga classes we offer at the office each week. If you would like to visit Manduka one day our doors are always open. We would love to meet you and show you all the great things that we have happening.
1.0
23 May 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

50% discount on product. Some opportunity to learn and take charge as there is little structure.

Cons

Where do I begin? From the poor leadership at the executive level, ageism, politics and badmouthing, this place is a train wreck. VP level leaders are allowed and encouraged to run their own agendas at the expense of other employees, and sometimes even the business. The leadership in this company has no respect or value for employees, will badmouth you behind your back and will play favorites if you try to speak up. What's baffling is that the company's mission is "to inspire the practice of yoga" and the vision is "a world uplifted through the joy of yoga". The reality at HQ is that there is personal agendas, and at the end of the day the CEO and certain members of the exec team only care about themselves. I have personally witnessed discriminatory statements by VPs of the company, crude talk, and a complete lack of respect and disregard for the employees that are actually keeping the business alive. When these issues were brought to the attention of the CEO, he looked the other way.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 73 Reviews

Glassdoor has 84 Manduka reviews submitted anonymously by Manduka employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Manduka is right for you.