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Marcella (Bulgaria)

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Marcella (Bulgaria) Reviews

3.9

81% would recommend to a friend

(11 total reviews)

81% positive business outlook

Reviews by job title

11 reviews
1.0
2 Dec 2022

Deceptive, unprofessional, stay away!

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Low key atmosphere Casual dress code

Cons

Everything else! CEO is aggressive, yells, talks down to everyone including the co founder, interrupts, and constantly blames employees for own faults and failings. Toxic work environment. Ethics and legal violations all over the place. The wrong people in the wrong positions leading to issues in adherence to HR laws and illegal practices. Short pays employees on purpose and blames it on outside issues. Guilty of bait and switch, job expectations, environment and compensation did not align with the job description, interview conversations or signed job offer. Practices "total honesty " as an excuse to be rude and insult people's character. Employees labeled as "having something wrong with them like ADD" when they don't fit the mold. During my short time there multiple people were fired, based on management tantrums,all were dismissed without warning and not paid out appropriately. I quit after seeing this mistreatment and I wasn't paid out correctly either. They hire young professionals who do not have enough experience to understand their rights and as soon as someone speaks up, they are dismissed as being an issue, even if they were praised as an amazing employee prior to speaking up.

Marcella (Bulgaria) Response
2y
As one of America's fastest-growing female founded and led companies, we're saddened by this review, which we consider intentionally misleading. While everyone experiences workplaces differently, what they write re: our company is literally not what our company is or does. We have escalated our concern to Glassdoor of the extreme factual inaccuracies contained but have been told "Glassdoor does not take sides in factual disputes." Despite the reviewer choosing to remain anonymous, we would kindly request anyone reading this review to ignore it as we do know who wrote it. The review comes from a former assistant manager in our U.S. office who worked on our team for a few short months during COVID. This individual struggled from the start with basic professionalism on the job – both as it related to performance of duties as well as with being supportive of the team around her. Initially impressed by her during interviewing, our management team was pleased to offer her a job opportunity after she'd cycled through a series of previous jobs but, one day, she "ghosted" the company and never showed up again for work. From Linkedin, we observe that she continues to cycle through jobs post-Marcella and we regret that she feels the need to attack us and several other previous employers in multiple venues. While we hesitate to validate what we consider a defamatory and fabricated review, we will nevertheless address the comments made here for the avoidance of any doubt. We are a 66 person global company with 62 female employees (94% female workforce). The picture painted here ("They hire young professionals who do not have enough experience to understand their rights") is entirely fabricated. Of our overall workforce, more than half have an average (median) age above 30 years old (including on our U.S. team). Our overall management team consists of 5 company leaders in our C-Suite, four of whom are highly empathetic and professionally seasoned female executives educated at universities like Harvard, Emory, Duke, and Parsons. The other management executive is a similarly highly empathetic and professionally seasoned male veteran of the economic development space, educated at Columbia, who created the female empowerment-focused social impact pillar of our company. Rather than engaging in "ethics and legal violations all over the place," these are thoughtful management types who only step up for their colleagues but take pride in actively supporting and mentoring the company's employees. The comments re: our company environment are frankly so awful, extreme and out of line with how Marcella operates that we will not choose to address them. We will simply point out that, if true, they would in no way correlate with a company like ours that actually enjoys best in class metrics regarding employee retention with an average (median) employee tenure of 4+ years in our 7 year-old company (even as we've expanded staffing dramatically during those 7 years). 33 employees have been with Marcella for more than 4 years - more than half of the time that the company has existed and note that the company had only 38 employees four years ago. The reviewer writes "during my short time there were multiple people were fired." More context is required here. Yes, two people were terminated during her time with the company. Both were found to be engaging in illegal activity (company credit card fraud and abuse of hybrid working arrangements, respectively). Rather than being "praised as amazing employees," they were both relatively new to the company, having been in their roles for a matter of 2 - 4 months, and were each terminated immediately upon the company discovering their unethical behavior (although terminated "not for cause" so that they could still collect unemployment benefits, if they so chose. Also, as we've communicated to Glassdoor, unlike what the reviewer falsely claims here about these two employees and herself, we have the payroll records to prove that we have and will ALWAYS pay out all employees fully for time worked, as obviously required by law and any basic code of professionalism). Overall, the two individuals the reviewer mentions were the first two employees who were ever terminated by our company for illegal activity and, including them, Marcella has terminated all of 4 employees in the U.S. in 7 years of being in business. The idea that "employees are dismissed as being an issue...if they speak up" is fabricated and out of line with the uplifting efforts of a close-knit 66 person global team that has come together to create and grow over several years a social impact-driven brand recognized by national media like Inc. Magazine, NBC and Fortune Magazine for orienting every aspect of our company towards advancing women and girls globally, starting with our internal working environment.
1.0
30 Nov 2023

Dysfunction, abuse of power, deception.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You sometimes get free discarded clothes, 35% employee discount, hybrid work schedule, and they provide free snacks and drinks.

Cons

Please beware of this company. Employees are viewed as resources, manipulated, gaslit, used, publicly disrespected, and severely underpaid. The co-founders fight and bicker on company calls daily. The CEO has a rage problem and lashes out at employees for minor mistakes that would be avoided if people weren’t so overworked, disrespected, and improperly trained (if trained at all). The company is founded on the principle of “empowering women to the world’s future,” but nearly the entire US team is made up of young women and queer people under 30 that are emotionally and verbally mistreated on the job. No women who work at the company make any final decisions- nearly everything is controlled by the CEO, a white cis man that has final say over all creative and logistic decisions and belittles female employees and his co-founder (who is also his wife) on the daily. CEO threatens wages as a fear tactic, and frequently misgenders queer employees. Both co-founders make racist and fatphobic comments about models and influencers that work with the brand. Employees are encouraged to make their voices heard, only to be punished or ignored in return. Direct reporters ignore and make excuses for founders’ behavior and gaslight their subordinates. Employees are pitted against each other by co-founders. Employees work far outside their designated working hours, run errands and do personal favors for the founders, and do extra work outside of their job description that they are never compensated for. The CEO's main hiring strategy is onboarding young women who are passionate about fashion and want to make it in the industry, then exploits their innocence and inexperience for the co-founders’ own financial gain. The CEO runs all HR-related procedures (in other words, there is no HR). Marcella has a strong ruse going for them, as their site is littered with language marketing them as a “socially impactful” and “ethical” brand, but their extreme lack of professionalism, blatant mistreatment of young professionals, and potent disregard for their employees’ rights is going to come to light eventually. If you are thinking about applying here, please understand the risk you are taking involving yourself with the people who run this brand.

Marcella (Bulgaria) Response
2y
As one of America's fastest-growing female founded and led companies, we're shocked and saddened by this review, which we consider intentionally misleading. While everyone experiences workplaces differently, what they write re: our company is literally not what our company is or does. We have escalated our concern to Glassdoor of the extreme factual inaccuracies contained but have been told "Glassdoor does not take sides in factual disputes." In the past 2 years, we have let go two employees for company credit card fraud and abuse of our hybrid working, respectively, and we fear that one of them is anonymously engaged in retaliatory behavior. While we hesitate to validate what we consider a defamatory and fabricated review, we will nevertheless address the comments made here for the avoidance of any doubt. We are a 66 person global company with 62 female employees (94% female workforce). Of our overall workforce, more than half have an average (median) age above 30 years old (including on the U.S. team – totally unlike what is claimed here). The picture painted here of a staff of inexperienced young women being preyed upon is entirely fabricated. Of our management team, 4 out of 5 company leaders in our C-Suite consist of highly empathetic and professionally seasoned female executives educated at universities like Harvard, Emory, Duke, and Parsons. The other is a similarly highly empathetic and professionally seasoned male veteran of the economic development space, educated at Columbia, who created the female empowerment-focused social impact pillar of our company. These are management types who not only step up for their colleagues but take pride in actively supporting and mentoring the company's employees. Moreover, to suggest (as here) that "No women who work at the company make any final decisions" is wholly inaccurate and in fact impossible in one of America's fastest growing companies. It also effectively disparages an incredible management team (across various levels) of tens of women in our company (we take immense pride in being female founded, staffed and led across all of our teams). The comments re: our company environment and the partners with which we work (like influencers) are frankly so awful, extreme and out of line with how Marcella operates that we will not choose to address them. We will simply point out that, if true, they would in no way correlate with a company like ours that actually enjoys best in class metrics regarding employee retention with an average (median) employee tenure of 4+ years in our 7 year-old company (even as we've expanded staffing dramatically during those 7 years). 33 employees have been with Marcella for more than 4 years - more than half of the time that the company has existed and note that the company had only 38 employees four years ago. In fact, rather than its being a "strong ruse," as recognized by national media like Inc. Magazine, NBC and Fortune Magazine, we are a company that orients every aspect of our operations towards advancing women and girls globally, starting with our collegial and respectful internal work environment, as well as having supported over 880,000 school days for underprivileged girls since 2021, minimizing the generation of textile waste with our fashion (in the world's second largest polluting industry) and producing all of our garments and accessories with predominantly female teams to whom we pay dramatically above average wages and benefits, including living wages, free health care, paid overtime, a pension, paid maternity leave, among others. It is wrong to suggest that anyone in our company is "underpaid" in the position they occupy. We view it as a core employer responsibility to regularly monitor and index our wages locally and pay well above local averages for all company positions (including – in the U.S. where this individual claims to be based – not having one U.S. employee at even entry level who makes at a minimum less than 38% above minimum wage and also offering 50% subsidized health and dental insurance and a 50% match 401k program to all U.S. employees). In our company's history, we indeed have never once hired an employee who has not been immediately paid above their previous wage (and, moreover, all wage ranges we might offer in the first place are transparently advertised in our job ads). Furthermore, it is similarly wrong to suggest that anyone in our company is exploited in any way. We celebrate the uplifting efforts of our close-knit 66-person global team and take pride in the company we are, inclusive of honoring and respecting all employment laws and are PROUD to be an equal opportunity employer that values diversity. We do not and would NEVER discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other physical characteristic.
1.0
20 Mar 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There aren’t any pros to working here.

Cons

You will be paid below the poverty line and told that there’s room for advancement. You’ll believe them because there are 3 employees who’ve been there longer than 2 years. The truth is the only way you’ll advance is if you put up with abuse and keep your mouth shut. You’ll be subjected to violent rages in public meetings, illegal business practices, unethical conversations about your fellow coworkers and people in general. If you can’t stay 6 steps in front of upper management and constantly anticipate their unvoiced needs, you’ll be fired. Their company stance on women empowerment, sustainability and ethical consumption are just marketing ploys. One IRS audit would send the entire company to bankruptcy and I’m thoroughly shocked that they haven’t been sued for exploitative hiring practices.

Marcella (Bulgaria) Response
2y
As one of America's fastest-growing female founded and led companies, we're shocked and saddened by this review, which we consider intentionally misleading. While everyone experiences workplaces differently, what they write re: our company is literally not what our company is or does. We have escalated our concern to Glassdoor that there is actually no current employee with this represented profile at our company and of the extreme factual inaccuracies contained but have been told "Glassdoor does not take sides in factual disputes." In the past 2 years, we have let go two employees for company credit card fraud and abuse of our hybrid working, respectively, and we fear that one of them is anonymously engaged in retaliatory behavior. While we hesitate to validate what we consider a defamatory and fabricated review, we will nevertheless address the comments made here for the avoidance of any doubt. We are a 66 person global company with 62 female employees (94% female workforce). Of our overall workforce, more than half have an average (median) age above 30 years old. Of our management team, 4 out of 5 company leaders in our C-Suite consist of highly empathetic and professionally seasoned female executives educated at universities like Harvard, Emory, Duke, and Parsons. The other is a similarly highly empathetic and highly professionally seasoned male veteran of the economic development space, educated at Columbia, who created the female empowerment-focused social impact pillar of our company. These are management types who not only step up for their colleagues but take pride in actively supporting and mentoring the company's employees. The comments re: our company environment are frankly so awful, extreme and out of line with how Marcella operates that we will not choose to address them. We will simply point out that, if true, they would in no way correlate with a company like ours that enjoys best in class metrics regarding employee retention, with an average (median) employee tenure of 4+ years in our 7 year-old company (even as we've expanded staffing dramatically during those 7 years). Meaning that "not three employees have been there longer than two years" but, rather, 33 employees have been here for more than 4 years - more than half of the time that the company has existed and note that the company had only 38 employees four years ago. In fact, rather than its being a "marketing ploy," as recognized by national media like Inc. Magazine, NBC and Fortune Magazine, we are a company that orients every aspect of our operations towards advancing women and girls globally, starting with our collegial and respectful internal work environment, as well as having supported over 880,000 school days for underprivileged girls since 2021, minimizing the generation of textile waste with our fashion (in the world's second largest polluting industry) and producing all of our garments and garments with predominantly female teams to whom we pay dramatically above average wages and benefits, including living wages, free health care, paid overtime, a pension, paid maternity leave, among others. It is wrong to suggest that anyone in our company is paid "poverty wages." We view it as a core employer responsibility to regularly monitor and index our wages locally and pays well above local averages for all company positions (including – in the U.S. where this individual claims to be based – not having one U.S. employee at even entry level who makes at a minimum less than 38% above minimum wage and also offering 50% subsidized health and dental insurance and a 50% match 401k program to all U.S. employees). In our company's history, we indeed have never once hired an employee who has not been immediately paid above their previous wage (and, moreover, all wage ranges we might offer in the first place are transparently advertised in our job ads). Furthermore, we unconditionally honor and respect all employment laws and are PROUD to be an equal opportunity employer that values diversity. We do not and would NEVER discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any physical characteristic. Finally, and only more regrettably, for a self-identified entry level customer service representative in a multi-national company (with a separate, full CFO department) to suggest that they would even have any knowledge with how the company pays its taxes, let alone to claim "that one IRS audit would send the entire company to bankruptcy" is patently false and, again, defamatory towards the uplifting efforts of our now 66-person global team.
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Glassdoor has 15 Marcella (Bulgaria) reviews submitted anonymously by Marcella (Bulgaria) employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Marcella (Bulgaria) is right for you.