At least 57 employees from Natura Siberica’s Moscow office handed in their resignations on August 18 and 19, the online publication VC.ru reported, citing several sources in the cosmetics company.
The prominent organic cosmetics brand has been embroiled in a corporate conflict ever since the death of its founder, Andrey Trubnikov, in January 2021. According to one of VC.ru’s sources, around 100 more employees have taken vacation and are planning to quit if the ongoing corporate conflict isn’t resolved in favor of Natura Siberica co-founder and general director Irina Trubnikova (Trubnikov’s first wife). Taking into account all of the employees who have resigned and taken leave, the company’s central office is missing 60 percent of its staff, a source told VC.ru.
The head of Natura Siberica’s development department, Irina Rypa, also told VC.ru about mass resignations. According to Rypa, 21 employees decided to quit in her department alone. Managers and employees from the technology and supply departments have also handed in their notice. Sources also told the publication that a number of the company’s top managers have resigned.
Iryna Rypa said that the outgoing employees were unable to reach an agreement on resigning effective immediately and will therefore continue working for another two weeks. At the same time, she noted that the resignations, vacations, and absence of key employees have paralyzed the company’s operations. “I can’t even send documents to suppliers: there’s no one to sign [them]. I don’t understand the point of working for [another] two weeks,” she said.
Rypa recalled that Natura Siberica’s employees are refusing to work under the company’s recently appointed president Sergey Buylov. She also claimed that Buylov “is exerting psychological pressure” on employees, threatening “disciplinary action and even criminal prosecution.”
Irina Trubnikova has advised employees to take vacation time in order to “wait out” the corporate conflict, Rypa said. According to her, Trubnikova has promised to return all of the staff members to their jobs after the situation is resolved.
The death of Natura Siberica founder Andrey Trubnikov in January 2021 triggered a corporate conflict as his relatives were unable to agree on how to divide up the company’s shares and manage the brand moving forward.
On August 12, Natura Siberica employees released a statement alleging that the company’s new leadership was attempting a raider takeover. The next day, company employees picketed outside of Natura Siberica’s Moscow office. The employees are particularly opposed to Sergey Buylov taking over as company president. However, Buylov maintains that a work-to-rule strike began before his appointment, and blames the company’s former leadership for management mistakes.
