Gwyneth Paltrow Pays Her Employees With Goop Discounts

Gwyneth Paltrow is the female Michael from The Office. So oblivious to what’s going around her.

Business Insider wrote an insider’s view of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop today based on ex-employee interviews. From it, Paltrow can be summarized as cheap, fickle and ignorant of her employee’s well-being. I am, not surprised?

Supposedly, Goop was worth $430 million in 2019, which is a lot of vagina eggs. They’ve must’ve been worth that much partly because they underpay their employees. By one ex-employee’s account, Paltrow underpays her employees by 40%.

According to BI, management even KNEW about it, but promised to make it right with them. Oh, not by paying them a market rate. Nah, you get discounts to Goop products.

Goop management acknowledged the company’s relatively low pay in at least one company all-hands meeting…senior leaders said they would make up for it, promising pay raises, one of the employees said. The company also offered equity to all employees, as well as perks, like free products and discounts to Goop’s sites.

Usually, employee discounts are in addition to your normal pay, not instead of it.

Other tidbits include Paltrow turning on certain execs who used to be favorites. Although the evidence is skimpy, I can see Paltrow being aloof.

Three former employees pointed to [Juan Paul] Ramirez, the company’s well-regarded former chief technology officer, as a prime example of a former favorite. After joining Goop in January 2018, Ramirez helped lead the company’s continued transformation to a digital-media and e-commerce brand. Under his leadership, which two former employees complimented, Goop’s tech team grew from eight to 45.

But in May, Ramirez left with little explanation to the staff or his team, three former employees said. Two of them said he was pushed out. When the team asked about his departure, looking for guidance, Paltrow was vague and didn’t give many further details, a third employee said.

Ok, I’ll take one side, which is that if I run a company and I let you go, do I really owe you an explanation? Every company should say something, but no one says it’s required. On the other hand, Goop projects, on purpose, a very mindful, bliss-y brand. It comes off hypocritical to not say anything when you fire someone that high up.

Overall, Goop supposedly has a problem retaining employees. The pandemic didn’t do Goop any favors either. Goop furloughed some workers in March and April 2020 when the pandemic first started. Some furloughed people eventually left.

One ex-employee said “they felt the company’s attitude toward people who complained seemed to be, “You can leave.”‘

“More than once, people during our stand-up would ask, ‘How would you deal with an employee that’s unhappy?’ and someone in leadership would just say, ‘Well, maybe this just isn’t the right company for them,'” this person said.

Not everyone can cash out hundreds of millions like Reese Witherspoon and her production company or Jessica Alba and Honest Company. Still, Paltrow will eventually get a nice chunk of change from selling Goop. Meanwhile, her employees can always cherish their vagina eggs bought with employee discounts.