I love teaching here! - Yoga Instructor Root Whole Body Employee Review

Nothing, This place is a nightmare, and the CEO is a manipulative, narcissistic bully.

In July 2025, I came into the role of Marketing Manager at Root Whole Body with excitement, enthusiasm, big goals, and a hopeful attitude toward the future. I recognized immediately that the marketing situation at Root was wildly misrepresented and needed an immense amount of work and reorganization. I made my opinion on the matter very clear to leadership at the time and many times thereafter. They were in agreement. However, it became abundantly clear within the first week that leadership had zero interest in setting me up for success in this new role, and I was dealing with a pure sink-or-swim mentality. I received zero onboarding, training, support, or structure, and was totally on my own. Plus, I was tasked with hiring and onboarding a social media content creator on top of getting up to speed myself. Despite this, I dug right in and put in long hours and weekends for the first couple of months, resolving many outstanding issues and chipping away at the mountainous task list. However, an ongoing culture of disrespect, bullying, and a pathological avoidance of responsibility, in addition to wildly unrealistic expectations for the role, slowly eroded my attitude and outlook. During my 90-day review, I discussed all of the above concerns along with many new concerns, including mercurial decision-making, childish misdirection, contradictory feedback, and constant belittling from the CEO. Her only suggestion was to establish boundaries. So, I moved forward, establishing boundaries, including processes and SOPs for myself and my subordinate. However, these boundaries were largely ignored, and I was treated with increasing hostility. Leadership began talking down to and bullying me so severely in public meetings that other employees began asking if I was ok and commenting that they almost walked out of the meeting in solidarity afterward. Plus, leadership talked poorly (and unfairly) about other employees, both terminated and current, when they weren't in attendance to defend themselves. On top of all of that, I (and others) have been criminally underpaid for the level and volume of work we’re doing and have been expected to vet, interview, and train new hires who came in at significantly higher salaries than I. This has by far been the most hostile and toxic work environment I have ever experienced, and they should be ashamed of their behavior and the treatment of their employees. I had hoped it was just my high expectations, but the 17 poor Glassdoor reviews that echo my experience and sentiment paint a different picture. The CEO, Pat Johnson, is intentionally cruel and then feigns ignorance about why she can't retain staff or customers. She's built a facade of wellness and hope on the backs of emotionally degraded and burnt-out employees. It's an absolute miracle that they haven't driven this business straight into bankruptcy already, but I imagine they'll get there eventually. I would say I wish them the best, but that would be a lie. Root Whole Body and Pat Johnson, you disgust me.

A beautiful physical workspace with potential for meaningful collaboration across wellness disciplines. Some genuinely kind and hardworking colleagues who care about providing quality service to clients.

Members of Leadership, particularly the CEO Pat Johnson, demonstrated questionable business practices and abusive behavior toward employees. Extremely high turnover, with several key employees leaving due to the toxic work environment. Unrealistic workload expectations. I was hired as a Business Operations Manager but was also tasked with roles including Human Resources Manager and Facilities Manager for a business with around 60 employees. This level of responsibility, without adequate resources or support, is unsustainable. Constantly shifting priorities based on the CEO’s emotional state or stress level. This made it nearly impossible to maintain focus or achieve long-term goals. A lack of professionalism and trust within the leadership team, which led to widespread dissatisfaction and burnout among staff. Communication from leadership was erratic and reactive, creating unnecessary stress and confusion for employees.