"Urgent Care" for Public Affairs, PR, Media, Policy. Deep experience with BH/acute hospitals, MedTech, other scrutinized sectors. Jewish nonprofit leader. Alum: UHS, Amazon, Burson, Edelman. Former LinkedIn Top Voice.
I don’t even know where to begin unpacking the Kyte Baby fiasco, including the double swing and miss CEO “apology” TikTok which made an already virally bad story worse. And I refuse to believe that they employ any communications staff or consultants because this is an epic fail that’ll take a while to recover from. For those of you that missed the story: Kyte Baby sells newborn and baby clothes and the CEO Ying Liu founded the company because one of her children had severe eczema and the onesies she had bought from most places exacerbated the condition. Great mission, purpose, exponential sales growth, things were looking great. Well, until basically Friday. That’s when a TikTok video from one of her employees named Marissa viral. See, Marissa suffered from fertility issues for several years and she and her husband were working with an adoption agency and lo and behold they found a match, a baby born at 22 weeks that required a NICU stay until at least March. Marissa’s job at Kyte Baby was an onsite one and she didnt have full one year tenure to qualify for FMLA so she petitioned HR to work remote so she could be with the baby in the NICU until discharge. The CEO/Founder DENIED the request, stating that if she did not return to work within two weeks, she would be terminated. Commence online outrage, multiple stories in the likes of New York Post, PEOPLE Magazine | PEOPLE.com, Business Insider, boycott petitions, a big GoFundMe for the family, tons of online hate, two botched videos, you get the idea. There are a lot of takeaways to this crisis, many I’ve spoken about before, but here’s just a few hot takes ➡️Hypocrisy Really Ticks People Off: If you start and lead a company with a mission dedicated to accommodating special needs of babies, then don’t reasonably do so for your own employees, that’s a big problem. ➡️Just because something is legal, doesn’t make it OK in the Court of Public Opinion: Yes, everyone in HR and Legal (even former lawyers like me) knows FMLA only applies after one year of service and even then, it’s unpaid. OK great, it doesn’t matter when your customers are mostly new parents going through all the feels. ➡️ Someone experienced in communications/public affairs MUST be in the room / available on Zoom: Yes, the CEO and HR head should know better (hello Golden Rule and looking around corners) but every leader selling products or services online needs to have someone at minimum a phone call away to check in with and make sure they aren’t about to mess up. ➡️ Bad News / Decisions Flow Like Water: gone are the days where you can keep things like this “contained.” social media means every constituency is an investigative reporter with a distribution platform. This means making good decisions. The first time is imperative, and being prepared to be out front immediately when things go astray. Thanks for reading. Anything I missed here?
Kip Boyle
3mo
Kyra Randall
3mo
The whole FMLA debate on this is great but she didn’t ask for that. She asked to work remote so she could be in the NICU with her kiddo. When my mom was on life support, I worked in her hospital room. My company was good with it. Did the work get done? Yes. For the whole 30 days I was out, I only had to use three days of PTO. The two days I flew there and back and the day of her funeral. The nurses gave me a small room (I think it used to be a phone booth) for my zoom calls and when I was simply on my computer, I was in my moms room. Sometimes I even talked to her about what I was writing. It was comforting for me and probably for my mom. If a person can get their job done, what’s the problem. The CEO denied her the time to bond with her baby and get her work done. She put her in the position of having to choose between her job and her baby. Shame on the CEO. And yes, I was laser focused on my job but had the comfort of being with my mom in her last days.
Rachel Olchowka
3mo
One thing worth noting in this whole fiasco is the destructive power of policy. It’s such a no brainer to give this woman leave to be with her baby. But (I’m guessing here) they looked at FMLA and they looked at her eligibility and they made a decision wholly informed by policy and not at all by pragmatism, living by their values, or the bigger picture. Oftentimes, folks think of policy as neutral at worst and very useful in decision making at best. But this highlights how a policy that seems neutral on its face — but is totally bonkers when applied in certain circumstances — can be horribly damaging for employees and the company’s brand. The lesson here? Approach policy carefully. Don’t view policy uncritically as neutral/good; take a skeptical eye toward it. And always, always build in flexibility if you find you have no choice other than to make policy. For what it’s worth, at Fetch we strike this balance very thoughtfully. We’ve given leaves of absence to literally dozens of folks who didn’t technically qualify for FMLA due to tenure or the reason they needed a leave. We’re proud to take a people-first approach, not a policy-first one.
Crystal Ortiz
3mo
That is SO disappointing. I’ve been a customer for 3 years now, spending quite a bit of money and referring many of my friends to their company and products. It’s frustrating to hear companies use outdated practices in the workplace. Kytebaby is by no means alone in this problem, however. It’s a double standard that kytebaby should be held to a higher standard and yet the entire workforce of the United States does not do enough to support working parents in general and parents with special circumstances. I do understand the point about hypocrisy, but I hope we can raise the larger issue that America doesn’t have protections in place for people like this employee. AND additionally, hold kytebaby accountable for being a company for parents, yet not showing compassion towards their own employees. That was a bit rambly so hope I make sense here. 😂
Heide Palermo
3mo
The biggest takeaway for me here is how ultimately, in business, how you treat people in paramount. Many Kyte defenders from what I have read will cite corporate policies and how "this is an America problem" and "policy is policy." But that's just it... being HUMAN means you're not a robot. You can look at things from an empathetic perspective and do something (anything) to make someone feel supported. Companies find ways to support talent all the time despite policy. Yes, our country is way late for a parental leave renaissance but that aside, the true fail here IMO was leadership's lack of humanity and empathy. And on the flip side, I think the CEO deserves the same. She is human, she made a mistake AND owned it (as hard as that video is to watch)... It does not erase or justify the damage done by any means but I respect it.
Imo U. E.
3mo
Thanks for the eloquent way you presented this story about Kyte Baby Jeremy Tunis. However there is one thing, I wanted to clarify about FMLA: To be eligible for the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in 2024, employees must meet the following criteria: 🍊 Work for a covered employer 🍊 Have at least 1,250 hours of service with the employer in the 12 months before their FMLA leave starts 🍊 Work at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles 🍊 Have worked for the employer for at least one year before their leave of absence starts 🍊 The 1,250 hours do not include time spent on a paid or unpaid leave of absence. 🍊 Companies with fewer than 50 employees are also exempt from the federal law, but may be covered by state family and medical leave laws. The question is which one of these pieces of criteria did Kyte Baby use to deny Marissa Hughes? Did Marissa work 1,250 hours in 12 months prior to her request? How long was Marissa an employee prior to the requesting FMLA? ©️ Imo U. E.: Chief Executive Officer & Founder: #MHRCF offers #paid #business-#management and #résumé services on Google & LinkedIn 2 #jobseekers #careerchangers #businesses
But why is no one talking about the even larger problem which is how the US is one of the worst countries for maternity/paternity leave? Canceling this company will affect more than the CEO (who should resign), but let's funnel some outrage towards our government.
Erin Shearer
3mo
As an adoptive mother x3, I never got maternity leave. I had a high profile role and that time was never offered, and I didn't know enough/wasn't courageous enough to demand it. I went right to work after our children joined our family and after our adoptions were finalized. At the time, I could justify that it was due to my role requiring me to be physically and publicly present. But really, unfortunately, I believe many organizations just do not understand adoption and just how much bonding is needed for the family, parents, and these babies. Looking back, it was a huge mistake on my part and remains one of my biggest regrets. I am so proud of this mother for speaking out and up.
Evie Nagy
3mo
This exact scenario happened to me when I was pregnant with my first child and was put on bedrest after premature labor. The company didn't have a mission that made it hypocritical per se, but they did grant WFH to a man with an illness while denying a pregnant woman (they eventually granted it to me when someone mentioned the double standard and they realized it was, like, illegal). I'm very glad this kind of thing is now an actual news story instead of just something we think we have to accept.
"Urgent Care" for Public Affairs, PR, Media, Policy. Deep experience with BH/acute hospitals, MedTech, other scrutinized sectors. Jewish nonprofit leader. Alum: UHS, Amazon, Burson, Edelman. Former LinkedIn Top Voice.
3mohttps://people.com/kyte-baby-ceo-apology-after-brand-fires-new-mom-8546347