As I found out the day I was laid off, the management team was well aware of ongoings of this page....and not happy about it. Scared as a matter of fact. If they truly want to get sincere authentic feedback, this page is it. There is no need for an employee survey that everyone knows that is trackable back to you - rather, if Mattel wants to be open to frank employee feeddback and utilize it for ways to strengthen the company, they would be wise to do so. And look....this is freeeeeeee! No need to hire costly consultants that charge millions of dollars with windbag summary reports. the comments on all of these pages is so much more genuine than any contracted report could tell you. Are you listening Mattel leadership?
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The chart I have points down like steps to the basement. How is this a positive thing? It is hard to be positive when you see this over 30 years or more. Rosie glasses don't work. My positive thinking is that Mattel sold out to China and gave up on the U.S.A.
The crazy people are running the asylum. I see it every day. Almost all the skilled people are gone and the people that are left with little experience think they know what's going on. Mattel has all but destroyed Fisher Price. Tired of shoveling coal on the Titanic.
Bain...what a joke!
If management is reading this then...failing upwards, managers with one report or the "high school forever" office cliques are some of the biggest problems. Depts are run by the same Directors or Managers for years with mediocre results. So much talent leaves or is layed off in favor of more of the same. The boys team is nothing but middle aged guys - is it possible no one else is qualified to design a playset?
@897: Obviously you're the OP. There were only a handful of posts here prior to the layoff (including ones several years old), so why on earth would Mattel tell you on layoff day that they are "afraid" of this site? Now please stay focused on the layoff effects and helping displaced employees, your paranoia and wild claims are not productive.
Well, this thread has over 500 views, there many threads with 1000 views or more, so, I would say that MANY people read this. I am with FP, I know for sure that senior level folks read this board regardless of how obscure you perceive it to be - tell me #772 when was the last time 500 people listened or read something you had to communicate...
Reality check: Mattel neither reads nor feels threatened by this obscure little website. It does serve its purpose to let people vent, commiserate and blow off some steam.
And yes, fire everyone up top and rebuild the Matrix.
I hope the board of directors is reading this. The problems are directly underneath you...the leadership.
As Al Pacino said in Glengary Glenross, "you were hired to helps us, not f*** us up".
I feel very bad for anyone who was fired by Mattel over the past weeks. It's a very traumatic process. One minute you are a productive member of a Brand or Team, you probably have been given great "reviews" you may have worked there for years, you have poured your heart & soul into the company, late hours, travel, overtime, week ends, phone calls to HK at night, etc, etc, etc.
and the next minute you are being told to clean out your desk by your Boss/HR/Security & led out of the building. It always seemed incredible to me that the Mattel "Management" Team would bring in "Consultants" & pay them millions of dollars, to tell them how to save the Company. Listen to your people Mattel & stay out of the way. You cannot easily replace people with experience, know how, dedication, hard work, product knowledge, industry knowledge, creativity & more. Start earning your millions 15th Floor. You need to re-connect with (as one poster said) the people who "Make the Magic". You need a communicator with a vision at the top. Someone who knows the Toy Industry. You may have the right guy, already working there........Mattel has great people...they need great leadership now.
There are no positives about the company to write about currently. And I also believe that prior to Mattel taking over FP and AG, one could almost make the same case that there were no or very little negative things to post. SAD.
They should be worried. I was there for quite a while, and saw the hard work everyone put in to make some last minute meeting, event or show and tell. It didn't matter a whit that people have to make it happen. You never want to be the team the drops the ball, but for once, I'd like to see those that make the decisions sit with the people who try to make the magic happen, even when they know that the Magic will be cost reduced out. I understand that there has always been cost reduction meetings, but the focus in the "old" days was based on making a good toy, and deciding if those cuts made sense. The last ten years has all been about margin, at the sacrifice of Fun and quality.
Anonymous81641 - how can you be sure they are reading this? Also, it seems to me that there is four or five of us on this board, I talked to my peers on Fri about this site, they have not heard about it (nor cared). I wish if the community here was larger and if we were to have more varieties of topics but the worker seems to be lethargic and does not care. That is my two cents. However, I will continue to visit and post as long as I have at least one person engaging in a meanigful discussion....
For the company's sake, one would hope that the leadership is reading this. True that most of the comments are negative. You sometimes need to read some candid responses to see what employees really think (as stated in previous comments).
It's hard to make positive comments in a place called "the Layoff". It's also very hard to be positive when there is very little positive to say about the leadership, poor decision making, PLM,cost reductions, outsourcing, etc....pretty much every thing that has been said. Everything wrong with the company has been voiced here.
You want the positive? The people, the worker bees. One can't say enough of positive of the majority of the 'underlings'. Long hours worked and dedicated to the trade and company.
There are many occasions where someone in senior management has made last minute changes to a item. This leads to people in design staying up late hours to make these changes. This trickles down to the model makers, painters, rapid prototypers, sculptors, graphics, sample makers, hair, packaging, etc. All requiring hours of work.
One person, who knows nothing of the process, takes ten seconds to say something, and it takes a team of dedicated people hours, weekends to change that one thing....then have that item be either cost reduced, dropped, or changed again for another pointless meeting...adding time and slipping schedule. We also have people that can't make a damn decision to save their lives.
The workers just do that is asked by management. The culture, system, and leadership needs to change in order for this company to compete again with other toy companies. Less SKUs, concentrate on better quality toys with good play value. Enough of the mentality of flooding the market with the same and more of the same crap. We still have the talent and the people, we just need the right general to lead us in to battle.
If a company continually chooses to hire outside consultants does that mean they don't trust their in house leadership teams to make the right decisions for the company?
I'm sure even folks in security are giggling their asses off about all of these posts. Why would they lift one stinking finger to build a HR case about anyone that is JUSTIFIED in these opinions. Keep 'em coming folks.
I know management is reading this, also security, so watch yourselves!
First, I do not think they read this. Second, I do not think they care. Third, most of the feedback here is negative (I am sort of a self-appointed leader in this area), guys with positive opinions do not post here, they do not bother to even search about the info that criticizes the company. Just to make sure where my position is: I WOULD FIRE EVERY VP PERSON AND UP as they are collectively responsible for running this once prestigious company into the ground.