Her name might ring a bell if you've been hanging out on social media for 48 hours.
Since Monday, Claire DEspagne, boss and founder of a start-up specializing in natural food supplements and other cosmetic products, has been the subject of a storm of criticism and mockery after an interview given on April 15.
In the podcast “Freedom of Entrepreneurship”, the creator of this brand, had very harsh words against the trainees she tries to “recruit” for her company.
The latter, and the schools that send them, are accused of not understanding the reality of the world of work and in particular that of start-ups.
“Recruitment is terrible at the moment, it's very, very complicated.
One wonders where are the interns?
“, she annoys ostensibly.
This former consultant for the asset manager BlackRock openly criticizes the trend favoring work-study contracts over traditional internships.
“We are forced to alternate.
(…) Me, today, I don't want work-study students, I think it's insane, that's all we find.
“A reality of the world of work which annoys the leader to the point of pushing her thinking a little further.
" It's hard.
We have schools that tell us, I'm not ashamed to say it in front of the camera,
if I learn that my intern works more than 35 hours a week, I would have him stop your internship.
.
Well, it's going to be hard afterwards for your trainee to find a job and buy an apartment,” asserts the founder of D + For Care.
"Because in the world I live in, if I don't work 80 hours a week there is very little chance that I will have an apartment, a second home and maybe another one afterwards".
This last remark, which was brought to light in a short audio extract, caused a strong reaction on social networks.
And as much to say that his view of the working time of the trainees did not obtain the expected echo.
In less than 48 hours, an outburst of humor and other parodies – in total several tens of thousands of tweets – fell on the name of the thirty-something Parisian.
Claire DEspagne who leaves to wake up her trainees on the night of Saturday to Sunday because they have worked only 78 hours this week pic.twitter.com/Wj08gIXGsk
— Sephiroth Whore 🌟 (@_lucastrophe) May 9, 2022
Claire DEspagne when you tell her you need a rest after your 80 hours at 100 bullets a week pic.twitter.com/CQOLcPrYns
— Gorgeous Nonna (@ma_tthieu) May 10, 2022
She is literally complaining that schools monitor the awful and illegal excesses of employers like her when it comes to their students on internship
But STILL HAPPY!
It's not psq you're 35 years old and the botoxed face that you're above the law.
#clairedespana https://t.co/dRllRwmv1Y
— Naingui (@Juugbk) May 9, 2022
The affair could have ended there, but the words of Claire DEspagne could have disastrous consequences on her business – flourishing until then, if we are to believe an article from last February in Les Échos.
"D + For Care, a nugget specializing in the design of food supplements, cosmetics and well-being products, is following a hypergrowth curve just as upward as the prestigious members of the French Tech 120" assured the economic daily at the time, the company boasting several million euros in turnover.
"Confounds trainees and slaves"
In the wake of the mockery, the brand of Claire from Spain was indeed the victim of a raid on the company's Google page.
While the vast majority of posts were relatively laudatory, a litany of comments pertaining to intern abuse pervaded the page.
In total, nearly 5,000 negative reviews have caused the brand's "rating" to drop to 1.1, with some even regretting the impossibility of giving it zero.
Krkrkrkrkrkrkrkr pic.twitter.com/3ll7ehQH6n
– NEUPAP (@TonyLeclet) May 10, 2022
In this context of harassment, a source close to Claire DEspagne told Le Figaro that the entrepreneur had received "physical threats against her, her family, members of the team".
"Efforts are focused on ensuring everyone's safety and containing disproportionate violence in the short term," the source told the daily.
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A post shared by D+ for care (@dplusforcare)
The price to pay is likely to be high in terms of “e-reputation”
For “the tricolor rising star of brands born on the Internet” who works a lot on social networks, especially Instagram, the price to pay is likely to be high in terms of “e-reputation”.
The brand has also closed comments on its Instagram account to more than 50,000 subscribers for two days.
Same thing on the professional network LinkedIn where an announcement post of "recruitment" of trainees is also attacked by negative comments.
He is even accused of having posted a dozen internship offers online at one time, an illegal offer given the size of his company.
“I want that in fifteen years, with or without me, this brand will still stand!
“Explained the business manager to Echoes in February, this internet hurricane could therefore seriously curb her ambitions.
In the meantime, the small company is only officially looking for… four interns.
