Imagine working for a woman and mom-owned business who has made millions off other mom's, and learning that your dreams of motherhood have finally come true. Only to be told to make a choice between your newborn child and your job?
With Kyte Baby, the controversy here that comes into play is a hybrid of federal/state policies that need a complete overhaul and a lack of empathy for women from an employer who has made tens of millions of dollars off of them. We’ll focus on the latter.
Where did the brand go wrong?
Prioritizing Policies and Profits Over People: Many organizations go well beyond the minimums set out by state/federal laws when it comes to reproductive and parental rights. Policies are necessary for businesses to run smoothly, and equitably; however, a possible solution, as a business owner, when approached for accommodation for work location, small businesses have opportunities to demonstrate their values to overcome adversity. A new policy could have been created, or existing adapted to allow for extenuating circumstances.
 Authoring In-Authentic Apologies - Part 1: It’s so easy to say the wrong thing and this is where it’s important to have a crisis management team accessible. Reading a script while recording from your phone. A possible solution: Had CEO and Founder, Ying Liu introduced specific changes they were making to their policies instead of promises with no action or offered some sort of gesture to the new mother the result may have been different. Instead, sticking by their policies and reacting to the uproar only lead to a second, even more difficult to stomach apology.
Authoring In-Authentic Apologies – Part 2: Issuing a second statement shows they were doing this only to appease the internet frenzy. They felt like they were obligated to do this and when the internet didn’t like it, they tried again. This bring us back to the lack of authenticity and lack of values in the decision made. A surface level attempt to make customers happy. Customers don’t want to feel deceived. If you are responding to save your customer base, the solution comes from putting your money where your mouth is to fix the problem, and being truthful and honest with them.
Missing Meaningful Moments: Reactive marketing is the newest way to get some viral love via social media. A small investment usually goes a long way in the right opportunities. I know it could come across as inauthentic, but imagine Kyte Baby solved instead of apologized when this news story broke. A possible solution could have been adapting their policies, provided their staff member full salary while their child was in the NICU, and made a public donation to an organization supporting premature infants or adoption? Not only would they make a difference, they would also see substantial profit opportunity from audiences who are likely to buy from them.
On February 2nd, Kyte Baby announced new a new parental leave policy for employees allowing employees with 6 months tenure to take 4 paid weeks, and 22 unpaid weeks (6 months total) for parental leave. Employees with 12 months of tenure receive 8 weeks paid, and up to 44 weeks unpaid (12 months total). Is this enough to satisfy their customers, and employees? With comments turned off on their Instagram page, it’s too soon to tell. A small step in the right direction, but perhaps would have been more timely and values-driven with their initial apology.
In Canada, a parent is eligible for a caregiver leave in this type of situation, which does not impact maternity leave. If you’d like to support a baby brand that supports parents in this situation, I encourage you to look at these two Canadian brands:
Little Buck, who provide a portion of sales to Lakeridge Health Oshawa, where their own premature baby spent the first month of his life.
Petit Lem: Who donated 500 custom gift sets to hospitals across the country ahead of World Pre-maturity Day in 2023.
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