How are you guys still supporting this company?

[Anonymous]

I really don’t understand how people can shamelessly still shop from a company who fired all of their customer facing staff over the phone. In a time when people are relying more than ever on their paychecks and millions of Americans are fighting to afford the basic Necessities Sephora a miltibillion dollar company decided to pull something like that? Nah. Makeup for most people is a luxury. Something we spoil ourselves with and I can’t in my heart take that joy and give it to such a tasteless company.

[tg1973]

Perhaps a better question is why you created a profile to post this when you claim to be disgusted by the company.

[newcarlee]

I hate to break it to you, @Anonymous @but multi-million / multi-billion dollar companies have a lot of overhead and fixed costs like rent, inventory and to a certain extent: payroll. Companies can only bleed money up to a point. Certainly it’s horrible to get laid off but even when there’s no pandemic, this happens. I simply don’t think laying off some of their workforce when they’ve been forced to close all their stores means a company is tasteless and therefore should be boycotted.

[WinglessOne]

@Anonymous  I’m still waiting for pitchforks to fly at every other company that’s let employees go within the last 2 months. 🤷‍♀️ 

Sephora didn’t fire the employees I assume you’re talking about. They laid them off. Yes, there’s a difference: termination doesn’t usually come with any kind of severance package from US employers. Also, as has already been pointed out, ALL employees weren’t laid off. Part timers were. (“But the severance packages weren’t worth much!” Perhaps. But even a very small package is better than nothing.) 

And I’m still surprised that so many people had no idea how mass layoffs are conducted at several companies. Yeah, a short-notice conference call sucks, but that’s how it’s been done for several years. I guess no other company’s mass layoff by telephone has ever made the news before. 

What surprises me even more: did anyone REALLY think Sephora, or any other company in the beauty industry, wouldn’t have to let any employees go during this pandemic? I don’t even care what Sephora “promised” everyone about keeping folks employed. Anyone who knows anything about business should’ve also known there would be monetary losses and, as a result, job losses in the near future for these companies. Apparently it was easier for people to predict this happening in the restaurant and travel industries. The beauty industry ain’t cheap to play in, folks. People were all “well *huff* screw Sephora, I’m taking my business to Ulta now,” without realizing Ulta would most assuredly let some employees go, too. They were perhaps smarter about it from a publicity perspective: they put an exact date on their “promise” to keep employees. But c’mon, people. 

I’m not saying it doesn’t suck that employees have lost jobs. It does suck. But it was very predictable. Were I to boycott each company that’s let people go since March, I’d have very few places to shop for any products or services anymore. 

[Kim888]

@Anonymous

Your statement is a bit inaccurate. They didn’t fire all of their customer facing staff, they fired part time workers in order to retain their full time staff. 

I feel for the people who were let go, just as I feel for the hundreds of thousands of people who were let go at other retail stores, restaurants, hotels, and professional workers who are out of work because business is slow. I’ll echo the other poster - I’m not sure why you are singling out Sephora when they are a business doing what they have to do to get through this just like every other business.

You may not morally like it, but legally they have a responsibility to their shareholders to minimize losses and there are things like rent and other overhead costs they still have to cover for stores that are sitting empty. Should they have laid off people over the phone, maybe not, but the alternative seemed to be doing it individually - once you got a few people in people would have been more likely to find out from coworkers than Sephora itself. 

If you aren’t comfortable shopping st Sephora at this time that’s your decision to make , but there are tons of other considerations and there’s many businesses that have had to do the same thing - they just didn’t end up with big news articles on it 

[lmaster]

@Anonymous good ol unemployment plus an extra 600$ 

[suzyo]

I'm not sure why you're singling out Sephora, when countless companies have done the same. For the companies that haven't, it's really only a matter of time. There is also no "right way" to fire someone. With the stores being closed, email/phone is the only way to communicate.

[GG84]

That’s your right. As is everyone else’s right to shop where they want. You are aware that a lot of companies laid off employees? There would be very few options if you took the same stand across all sectors. But such is your right.