Keeping Up with These Bosses Must Be a Real Show

If, as one employee put it, a workplace “is already a real show” and a “cross between a sorority and a circus,” why not put it on television, especially if celebrities are involved?  The E! cable channel has done just that.

According to an article about the new reality show, on the Entertainment Tonight website, the owners/employers are the “world’s most famous businesswomen.” In addition, they are arguable the world’s most famous sisters, making the show quite interesting from an HR perspective.

The show, Dash Dolls, takes place at DASH, the Los Angeles boutique owned by the ubiquitous Kardashian sisters, Kourtney, Kim, and Khloe, and is a spin-off of the myriad shows about the family on E!. The boutique’s website states that the shop (there are others in New York City and Miami Beach) caters to the “confident, captivating and charismatic woman.”

Just having owners who are related, and perhaps not always in sync on how the store should be run or employees handled, portends potential arguments, the mainstay of the realty genre.

The show is considered a spin-off because the comanagers are longtime friends of the sisters and have appeared on their shows. Yes, that’s another red flag—employees who are personal friends of their employers.  And, according to etonline, the sales associates are close friends of the managers.  Uh-oh!

While, in the article, the comanagers say the Kardashian sisters are “very hands-on with their business,” they also have grueling schedules outside the store, so the managers say they must “hold down the fort.” Bet you can anticipate some tension arising from that situation.

More potential red flags for that workplace surface in the brief bios of the employees, where they are described as a party girl with no boundaries, a woman balancing career and family, someone with a hands-off attitude, a “mother hen,” and someone with a lot to prove. Quite a brew, and you know the show’s producers will find ways to stir the pot.

So while the show is entertainment (hey, it’s on E!), it may also be educational to HR pros in a certain way—and perhaps make them appreciate their own tranquil workplaces more. Hope the comanagers know they can go to BLR^® for help!