When Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy in September, the fast fashion chain described its history in documents that【C1】________, at times, like a pitch for a memoir or a Netflix special.

The filing emphasized the【C2】_____success of the Changs, who immigrated to the United States from South Korea in 1981 and built a multibillion-dollar business【C3】_____.

【C4】_____its peak, the retailer【C5】__more than $4 billion in annual sales and employed more than 43,000 people worldwide in hundreds of stores. Now it is leaving 40 countries and【C6】__to 199, or more than 30％ of its stores in the United States, and former employees and industry experts are pointing to the Changs’【C7】_____ management style as a significant reason for the collapse. They cite disastrous real estate deals and the chain’ s【C8】________merchandising strategy in recent years.

“On the founder【C9】_____, this【C10】__thing is pretty common,【C11】_____it’s particularly deadly if you’ve been successful for a long time,” said Erik Gordon, a management expert at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. “They didn’t have a board of directors to give them a reality check, and they didn’t have equity analysts to give them a reality check.”

He added: “You can live in your self-created bubble for a lot longer, but then the bubble【C12】________.”

The bankruptcy filing provides a【C13】_____glimpse inside a retailer that has been intensely secretive and privately【C14】__for decades. Six former employees, including three executives, also spoke to The New York Times about their experiences at Forever 21【C15】__anonymity,【C16】_____nondisclosure agreements.

Forever 21’s missteps, combined with industrywide changes in consumer tastes and shopping habits, will have far-reaching effects on thousands of people who work for the company, its vendors and malls.

From its early days, Do Won Chang, who is still the company’s chief executive,【C17】_____landlord and vendor relationships【C18】_____Jin Sook Chang led design and merchandising.

Former employees say that the top floor of the company’s Los Angeles headquarters was viewed as Do Won Chang’s world,【C19】_____corporate strategy【C20】_____and people kept quiet outside his office, while the bottom floor was Jin Sook Chang’s domain of buyers and planners.

Remote work, especially in a world【C1】_____by Covid-19, naturally leads to “flex time”. Employees with small children might be getting the majority of their work done at night【C2】__the kids are in bed. Others are working early and hoping to quit early. Still others are【C3】_____late and working late.

【C4】_____everyone on your team is working different hours, you may be getting emails and messages at【C5】__hours of the day, night, or weekend—which can quickly【C6】__an always available, or “always-on” environment. That might be【C7】__in some industries during challenging times, but【C8】__not in every industry and not for everyone in any industry. But once this takes root in your company culture, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to “reset” later. And “always-on” isn’t sustainable. It【C9】__pressure and quickly turns your company into an unpleasant place to work. It might cause even the most【C10】_____employees to consider other offers.

So how can you accommodate your employees’【C11】_____while still protecting your culture and your team’s work-life balance? The key is to【C12】__and encourage flex time while also defining clear “communication hours” (for example, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.). Outside of those hours, employees should be encouraged to【C13】_____ their settings to “Do Not Disturb” and to use the “schedule send” feature of their email client【C14】________messages only get delivered during communication hours.

If any correspondence must happen outside of the set communication hours, such as for【C15】_____or time-sensitive issues, make them phone or text only. This way people can comfortably close down all other communication【C16】__like email, Slack, instant messenger, etc. The act of having to call or text someone is usually enough to give the sender a【C17】__to think, “Do I really need this person now, or can the communication wait?” This allows everyone on your team to work whenever is【C18】__for them, but not feel like they have to work all the time to accommodate everyone else’s schedule. These challenging times don’t make downtime any less important.【C19】__, your team won’t handle the increased stress well【C20】_____downtime.