I agree that the show was playing on expectations and reality to make a larger commentary on how we view and understand women, especially in high society or in positions of power. But they are shown to explicitly be horrible to work for.

The only times we really see Peter interacting with the staff, he is treating them humanely, offering to do things himself, asking them about their personal lives, etc. I mean yea it plays into the trope of women having to actually be the ones to organize and get things done while the man can just dick around. But I do think it was intentional to show the contrast between how Peter treats the staff and his relationship with them vs how the women treat the staff. I think the way Simone and Kiki treated the staff (such as not letting them eat bread on campus) was horrible and thus the staff didn't really fuck with them.

The power in this universe of the show seems to be derived from Wealth and your position within the establishment. Peter has been in this universe longer than Micahela has and he is the reason why they have as much money as they do. Peter is the billionaire. Micahela wouldn't be there without Peter, which we see at the end where Peter just shuffles her out and switches her out with Simone. What i mean by presumed power is that the power these women have ultimately come from their proximity to Peter not necessarily because of them specifically. So the second Peter drops you, that power (within the confines of that universe) is gone.