Fire Evil-Lynn, then Kim Culmone. Evil-Lynn and Peter H no thsnkfully in his way out took their Polly pocket skilled to make bsrbie look like a cheap whore. Kim who started clipping swatches in soft goods under David Choi. Has lost all touch of reality. She clawed her way to the top stepping on so many backs to get there. She will be the new Jill Barad one day.
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I would line up each and every marketing person, bend them over and give em all dry anal.
Wow, ...........reminds me of the Steven King movie IT. The Evil ClicheClown in the sewer is your worst fear? In this case yes. That waste of flesh is evil & has no clue how to lead but by absolute fear & intimidation of those who fear him. Great place to work MatHell. Just pretend he's not really there.
C-Clown is definitely not the sharpest pencil in the box. But think about who put him there. Should we not take to task the idiot who put the clown in the driver's seat in the first place? Now the clown will be allowed to cause more damage. He then will fill his tent with more clowns as evidenced by his recent promotees. The clown is acting within his nature. Blame the cause as well.
Love the post before this one, all true, no hate, just facts. Pure & simple. I had to listen to C Cliche Clown once & that was enough. He's so stupid I couldn't believe it. I was in a mtg. where he was addressing a Design group he had just a acquired in a reorg & they weren't even in the room :) WTF? I looked around the presentation theater & wanted to raise my hand & tell him "hey stupid, that group isn't even here you dumb ass".....& he's a VP? Just great...........when he talks he says absolutely nothing & he's not a designer. He wouldn't know an under cut from a Pantone book. Nice, & he's telling me what's wrong with my concept? Really? Wu in charge of design? Makes perfect sense for this no sense place.
Most of us are fully aware of what's going on here. And if your management is so insecure as to not be able to hear the truth then sure you're in a shitty spot. It's a horrible place to be in. We know that shit flows downhill. If you have dumbasses at the top they'll likely place more dumbasses below them. But really what's the alternative to such a miserable existence? I think I'd rather get fired for telling the truth than biting my tongue everyday. It's not an approach for everyone but it's an option for some. And you don't have to be an a-hole about it. Because you'll be as bad as your idiot bosses. C Clown is sadly deluded by his own bs. If you listen to him long enough he only has a limited set of logic and "isms". He cannot evolve. Notice how he looks the exactly the same as he did 15 years ago. Just less hair. No evolution. You can tell there is no innate creativity. Makes sense that he made Wu head design bitch. Same cloth. Good luck friend.
We are involved but can't freely speak our minds or haven't you been reading this blog? Of course much of the last comment makes sense except for the last sentence. You spend your entire comment correctly describing the cancer here then you say to "get involved, speak your mind". Are you mentally impaired? That will get you fired here......Our idiot so called Marketing people all think they are designers because they have idiots like p heleneck they can push around. Love to watch the Barbie train wreck in slow motion. Same thing is going on the boys side with that other idiot C Down & the new VP who wears white shoes. Really, white loafers? WTF? But he speaks in cliches as well so it's all good.
If you're in a group that is heavily scrutinized and cannot safely give an honest and professional opinion then that group for sure is doomed.
Take Barbie for example. There is no trust among design management in their own people to marketing with design to NAD etc etc. so everyone's in everyone else's business. The sad thing is that it slowly evolved into that and now it's so embedded in their culture that they can't tell how dysfunctional they are. They all smoke their own hooch. They still talk like its a "fashion brand". The people trapped within it that don't believe that claptrap just suffer in silence because they need their jobs. Sigh. No one and I mean NO ONE looks at Barbie for fashion advice. Their marketing stepford cuckoos are all part of a hive mind. And they all think they are designers. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion that group.
Speak up if you have ideas. Work to change your own culture or keep your mouth shut. You have no right to complain if don't get involved.
The only place that looks at us nowadays with reverence is Leapfrog. Now THAT is a depressing thought.
Let's not forget that when Mattel was on top (boy that seems like a long time ago), Hasbro was laying off people once a year as well, if not more. I have friends that moved on to Hasbro and they don't speak so highly of it's culture and feel like they're looked down upon because they're coming from such a dysfunctional organization. See that's the problem: You'd think that working at mattel would give you some cred in the rest of the industry, but leaving now people look at you like you're a boob. Upper mgmt. isn't just screwing you while you're at mattel but the stink carries with you for quite some times afterwards. damned if you do and damned if you don't never rang truer.
Peter H is a complete waste of flesh but is in the Kiss Ass Club so he'll stay & keep doing nothing but continue to make useless changes as he has no taste or talent. He's the epitome of what's wrong with this place. BTW, the reason it's crickets here & no one speaks what's on their mind is you'll get fired if you don't drink the KoolAide. Remember, it's rule by fear here which is another big problem. People who have bills to pay have gotta stay. In all fairness to this place I hear that other places are the same thing, if not even worse. Except Hasbro, I hear nothing but great things about that place. It's tough to get in but if you don't mind the drive or relocating it's the place. Lego is awesome but one hell of a commute :) I just saw a Dinotrux sku @ retail and it looked terrible. They spent 4 so called designers & two years to generate that crap? The package graphics are terrible & the product is so cost reduced that I've seen better decorated birthday cakes.
get rid of EV, KC, and the rest of the barbie managers. and why the fuch is peter still lurking???
Make child care free the subsidy is BS. Provide free food and meals (and i mean decent meals not upgraded prison food). this means adding or expanding the cafes. add real coffee makers and espresso machines around with decent coffee. have some damn water coolers available. update the cubes from grey high walls to lower more open spaces. the place looks like a china factory. create places to hang out. not more conference rooms. develop the outdoor areas, there is so much space that is not being utilized in front of the tower that could be employee used space. need more gyms not that smelly stinky one that everyone thinks is gross. healthy employees are happier. invest in employee spaces- put up people's art work. bring in some fun furniture - not this ugly ass fire proof grey crap. provide free classes that train people in fun things. don't make it hard to get your equipment fixed. have a wellness clinic for employees. create performance measures that can be quantified. make people make decisions. force accountability. don't test every damn thing (news flash there's no proof that testing will guarantee success or failure). testing only gives people a false hope and disperses the accountability. give people unlimited vacation and maternity/paternity leave. if your work suffers you're out. if the place is so great you're not likely to let that happen. RD if you're listening - Mattel still has a chance.
Agree with Anonymous196215. You people are so good w suggestions when you're anonymous but it's pretty much crickets when anyone asked for your opinions. Buncha complainers if ya ask me.
Tracs is big BS. At its core it's about setting goals and tracking to those but if your goals are unclear from the very beginning its pointless. That's why Mattel does it retro. It's only for the purpose of rewarding the faithful. Yes if you can't get along with yer bosses yours will suck no doubt. But how is that different anywhere else. Haven't been here for too long but I can tell this site is just full of bitter people who hate their jobs no matter what. I commend people who left on their own at least they showed some initiative. Other than that there's a lot of miserable people at the Mattel offices.
The big issue here is that they reduced the severance considerably. Why waste the money on legal fees? If they are gunning for you don't turn a blind eye, see the writing on the wall and take the necessary moves to get out and move on to greener pastures. Nothing is worth that kind of grief.
if you feel your mismanagement is throwing you under the bus grow some balls & seek legal help going forward. You can get a one time consultation for a minimum amount of $. It works, I did it as have others but just make sure all your accomplishments/documentation is true/dated & in order. Seek severance and seek legal advice but only if you are sure you have a case. Remember, they are cowards. I know, I did it.
Yeah...rebuttal. I've tried that also. Zero response from HR, zero change. My boss makes shit up, reviews things from the current thing rather than the one the TRACS is addressing. He's scrambling to keep his own job I'm sure and will continue to point the finger elsewhere. He sounds like a few of the other managers mentioned on here- comes in late, talks poorly about upper management and does nothing extra- no extra time when needed, no volunteering, and yet- smiling when the time is right and telling me I should get more involved with the culture. If I volunteer for one more thing, I'll never have a life outside of work. Refresh managers!!!!
listen, that's all a load of crap. not signing your TRACS and writing a rebuttal will get you nowhere. we had a designer who's napoleonic boss bashed him in his tracs. he refused to sign, wrote a rebuttal, went to countless meetings and was consequently bashed everytime after until the last round of layoffs where he was shown the door. the director made his manager keep a log of every little interaction looking to nail him, they even put him on the pip, and when he'd meet the goals in his 30 day review, his director would come up with excuses to not close it out. always looking for some excuse. in truth if they want you gone you'll be gone either way. on the plus side he (the designer) is now a director in LA and couldn't be happier.
I know, that's why I left on my own terms. It may be even worse than when I left if that's possible & I feel bad for the decent, talented people that are still on the Titanic.
Everything that's been said about TRACs is 100% true. If your manager wants to ruin your reputation and make you a target they will shape your review to create that image of you. They also try to pressure you to sign- DO NOT SIGN without responding with facts. Everything said about useless meetings without a clear action plan IS STILL HAPPENING. Everything said about not having accountability and reviewing employees' performance on a regular basis so there can be proper accountability is true. There shouldn't be this out-of-the-blue negative performance review when it's time for TRACs. Nothing has changed- we are still catering to our internal customer- under qualified/over paid upper management. We are still fighting and fearing the politics. We are still not trusted. The only change so far seems to be (and I'm not sure) that TRACs went away with the old head of Hr but that would be ideal since it was a career ruiner. We are still waiting for the culture to improve. Nothing meaningful has changed. That same people are still in charge.
If I could change mattel I would call it hasbro.
if you get an unfair, unjust, stupid TRACS review DON'T sign it. Pure & simple as by signing you're admitting that it's true & upper mismanagement will use that against you to lay you off @ the first chance they get. Go back home & carefully counter each unfair point with a true facts & rebuttal. Document everything & date it when you feel you've been thrown under the bus by your supervisor. Don't be afraid of them as they are cowards. I remember once in the most productive year I had there I didn't even get a TRACS review. What did I do? I documented that as well. You have rights as an employee even if it's not a union shop. Don't be afraid to mention that you've consulted legal advice either. They hate that but just make sure you can prove all the unjust comments on your review & go in with evidence to prove that you're telling the truth as numbers & facts don't lie. It worked for me & can work for you. Document everything, all your accomplishments ALL THE TIME. Don't be a victim. be a survivor.
The first thing that should be done is re-write every executive contract to eliminate the golden parachutes. Do you job and earn your pay. If you don't do your job you get cut like everyone else, same severance package. This company doesn't need to be paying execs for years of not working for the company. Don't perform? C-Ya, AMF, don't let the door hit ya where the Lord split ya. You should have done a better job.
I wouldn't say that TRACS itself is the deciding factor but, when your boss starts mixing things in there that simply aren't true, and spins things in a negative way- he/she are laying the ground work so they can point to you as the sacrificial lamb. How many people who have been laid off had great reviews for years then maybe had a couple of lower ones just before being laid off. I'll bet it's a high percentage. TRACS lay the ground work. I'm sure there are a lot of factors that go into laying people off and I'm sure most of them are not at all fair. Hard work is not regularly acknowledged and certainly is not regularly rewarded but, ass kissing is. Truly. You smooch the butt of a director or vp quick enough, long enough, you'll be find for a while. I can think of a couple managers who snug up to their director or vp (or both) on the EA campus for the sole purpose of job protection and turn on them behind their backs. I hope it's good to look in a mirror in the mornings and stare at the dishonest manipulative person staring back. I exited that environment a year or so ago, thankfully on my own. It was crushing my spirit. Sometimes I check back here hoping to hear things are improving. I feel sad for what it has become. I'm sorry to the employees not being treated fairly. It does happen there. But, no harm in looking elsewhere where you might really be appreciated, where efforts above and beyond are acknowledged. Good luck everyone. Really. There are some great people left there.
Not true, your trac review doesn't really factor into laying people off. I had an AE for many years including this year - before I was laid off a few weeks later.
They use it to determine bonuses which is kind of bs anyway since the vps "play around" with the bonus pool and divide it up they way they see fit. So for the brown nosers this could benefit them.
It is true that there is a ratio of ratings that reviewers are allowed to give. I had to fight tooth and nail one year to get one of my people the rating they deserved - because my boss was too spineless to go
To his boss to fight for the extra what- few thousand dollars that would have equated to? Too bad my boss didn't fight for me the same way. Oh well.
The whole situation mattel
Is in is so ridiculous when you think of all the bonus & incentives the executive teams receive and trying to beg for a few extra dollars from them is like Oliver begging for more soup.
I honestly can sleep better knowing I did the best I could for the team I worked in.
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I agree with the TRACS comment as well. I too have been victim to "HR only allows so many Above Expectations". I can't give out anymore. It's already not fair because of that right there. I volunteer for our causes at every turn, stay late, learn new software, try to make my workflow efficient at every turn. It's like I'm padding my college application hoping I'm good enough on paper for them to keep me. My boss comes in late every single day, the last time he volunteered for anything.....somewhere in 2005-6, and I quote, "free lunch and a full day off!" were his inspirations for volunteering. I can't remember a time when he explored new software but, I'll bet his TRACS claim reaponsibility for my exploration. Quality managers. And this guy is my leader? It's deflating. I'd be more valuable to them on my own and they could save his fat check and keep a couple of the regulars whom actually show up and put an honest day of work in. And before anyone wants to say, "Don't like it? Leave!", I am.
I agree about TRACS.... there is nothing worse than being told that "I can only give out so many AE in the group". My boss wrote my review out to be negative even though I had my best year statistically, all because I tried to work more efficiently and not kiss his ass. I was laid off shortly after.. give the hard workers the reviews they deserve! People should be judged on how hard they WORK, not how hard they rode the boss.
FYI TRACS are only for the purpose of rating employees for layoffs and for calculating your % of the departments raise ...pitiful as they have been in the past.
It's so funny how people share ideas here. When management asks for feedback everyone is silent. Maybe managers should frequent this site if they really want to know what employees think. go layoffs.com
Years ago they offered an anonymous manager and above review when we were in the shitter during the neil friedman era in ES. It was brutal. The managers were squirming and our director at the time was a spineless sap who couldn't deal. There's no way that the current leadership would dare to do that. They don't have the balls. Then again most people on this site don't have the balls to send sinclair or dickson an anonymous email from a fake email account to tell them what they really think. I have been in the NYC office for 5 years now and I can honestly say that if they had any sort of management review it would be so overwhelming negative that it wouldn't get addressed. Only a few marketing bestie would stand up for their bosses otherwise everyone would be screwed
Overhaul TRACS. Please. I have never understood the fairness in a review system where employees cannot review their bosses. I think the worry has been that employees can be punitive. Let me tell you that just because people are given the title of "Manager", "Senior Manager", "Director"... Etc, they can be punitive/unprofessional as well. If you get an boss and let's say he or she doesn't like you for whatever reason- maybe you don't kiss their ass, maybe their crazy spouse lost their shit in your office because you said you had work to do and didn't have time to talk about the fight they just had at home, maybe they hang out with other co-workers within your dept. outside of work, they start treating them better because now they're pals, you are screwed. That boss will write trac bullets that are not true, totally twist the truth and favor their buddy. It's toxic and IT HAPPENS. The review process is NOT fair. I want to review my boss. I want someone else reviewing me in addition to my current boss who has ruined any kind of respect I should have for him/her because he talks about his bosses behind their back and also says "Mattel has no f** idea what their doing ( while enjoying his nice senior manager paycheck and bonuses). I want the designers I work with to review me, I want other departments to review me as a fellow employee. It's hard to feel like there's enough support for a regular employee, we are always afraid that HR will side with the higher ups and we will become a target of we complain. It feels like TRACS are really there to help the bosses offer up layoff targets. I'm rambling now but- I'd overhaul the review process and make sure employees can review their bosses as well.
Make sure all directors and above are true LEADERS who care about the best interests of their team first. Make sure directors and their managers pay attention to every single member of their team--making sure they are doing their work, rewarding them when deserved, coaching them through tough spots. Every single employee should end every single week knowing if they did a good job that week or if there are things that need to improve next week. And not becuase they think so but because the people they work for and with are paying attention to the work they do and are aware of what is going on. All. The. Time. It sounds so simple but I'm willing to bet that a large porition of mattel employee's managers or directors have no clue what they are doing, how and when they do it, and whether they are comimg in to work or not. pay attention.
Dissolve it. Its too late for Mattel. Ex execs get so much $$. How much does Jill Barad still get annually? Money should go into products not millionaire's trusts
I sat through a mind bending mtg. once when our newly promoted VP called a mandatory mtg late in the day. Layoffs were coming & everybody knew it so I thought he was going address that subject. But nooooo. It lasted almost 45 minutes & could have been covered in an email in one paragraph. At one point in time he started telling us about his bowel movements & that he couldn't decide which restroom to use because his new office was in the middle of both restrooms. I was ready to explode & couldn't believe when we just about ready to leave after all his minions stopped asking useless questions he says, "Oh, I forgot to tell you guys that we have a new initiative to end useless mtgs. I wanted to yell out ,"what do you think we just sat through you idiot?"........he also had a very bad temper but was hired as a Director because he was friends with the SVP as they used to work together & were both useless.
To build on the "no goal, no meeting" idea, meeting doesn't end without a plan of action. Too many meetings just seem to end because the allotted time is up. Everyone walks out, no one has any concrete task assigned to them. It is ridiculous.
Champion a culture that puts focus on building strong, efficient, creative teams. Teams are how companies win.
Smaller approval groups. It's lean and generates more innovative results.
Eliminate fear. Remember, fear kills creativity. Help people work through fear. This isn't therapy, it's business in 2015. Help people overcome this to both develop them and move the business at hand along.
Take a zero tolerance policy around open negative talk. Especially in groups. Negativity is contagious and it's also limiting. Choose the opposite.
No meetings without a goal. No goal? Then no meeting necessary.
Thanks! Unfortunately I was let go in the layoffs.
The last comment is absolutely brilliant & I can't add or change a thing. Who ever wrote it should be our next CEO and maybe just turn this place around :)
Dissolve the management team from the top on down, wipe the NAD, and PLM off the face of the earth and close the NYC office since everything done there could be done in ES. I would keep EA but change the culture to a more inspiring fun place to produce toys. Maybe even make EA have their own process apart from the rest of Mattel and bring them back to the time when they were dominating pre-school when Mattel acquired them. I would also shutter Mega brands and fold that business into EA.
And american girl? I would leave them the hell alone and allow them to go back to being the profitable faction they have been without Mattel's paws being in the mix.
Sell E. A.