Farfetch is a company filled with executives and upper level managers who have no idea what they are doing. Many of them are young, arrogant, lack experience, and are only hired based on network or CV brand names (educational institutions, management consultancies) rather than how skilled they are or their measured results from achievements at previous companies. Many of these people could greatly benefit from working in established companies at a lower level, and learning from industry mentors who have gathered far more knowledge. Most crucially, many of these people don't understand their core customers, their behaviour, and the fashion industry. I have worked in several different companies, but this is far and wide the most toxic work environment I have ever encountered. Politicking is widespread and executives engage in a never ending blame game where different divisions throw responsibility of poor results on each other. The consequences of the above are that progress on any project is slow if nonexistent. Most of the companies resources are thrown at addressing the same question week after week: what's causing decelerating sales? Rather than actually committing resources to initiatives that will solve these challenges & promote profitable long term growth, execs order department heads to order their teams to investigate these questions and come up with an answer so that their department isn't blamed that week (and therefore doesn't have to address it with a long-term solution). No one thinks about how each department's (usually conflicting) strategies (marketing, supply, ops, product etc.) all impact each other, which ultimately impacts the customer experience. Working at Farfetch is therefore akin to condemning yourself to Sisyphus' fate. In addition to all that, the pay is poor - it's aligned with fashion salaries NOT tech salaries. People work very hard as well - working weekends and late nights is not uncommon. Promotions are not based on achievements - rather they are based on whether or not you are a flight risk or if you worked at a fancy management consultancy or if you went to an Ivy League. Finally, the financial outlook of this company is truly questionable - every aspect of their core business is under pressure so I struggle to see a way to scale profitable growth without considerable investment decisions being made (and I don't mean showy & irrelevant M&A activity... I mean actual operational decisions). This company needs to make some hard decisions about where to invest their resources and where to sacrifice because they have not yet mastered their core business. Unfortunately no one is willing to do that.... especially not at the top.
