adidas Reviews in Portland, OR Area

Pros

It's a brand with Soul and the only brand that has the balance of Street and Sport

Cons

adidas is known for not paying as well as Nike. But the upside is there are fewer layoffs when times are tough at retail.

Advice to Senior Management

Level the workload and Compensation. Need a more diverse workforce

Pros

Young, energetic, & sports oriented people. Great product among the plethora of stuff. Comfortable in our own skin.

Cons

Constant power & control issues with the home office in Germany. Too many excuses for average work. Get over it.

Advice to Senior Management

Get in a room, beat each others brains in & figure it out. Live the corporate values everywhere, everyday. Please.

Pros

adidas offers great perks, very good benefits, and fair salaries. adidas is very willing to promote from within and regularly moves employees internationally. There are some great people who are very smart that work at adidas.

Cons

There is a high school like culture within adidas and a general lack of acceptance for those who aren't in the same mold as everyone else. The company has difficulties with change management. Until recently (2011) strategic planning was a weak point throughout all levels of the organization. This is still a problem area but has improved.

Pros

discount at the employee store

Cons

micro management is a big no no

Advice to Senior Management

keep it simple and fun

Pros

Bright colleagues challenging each other. Chance to move or travel internationally. Discount on products. Connected to sport daily if you seek it out.

Cons

All decisions come from Germans, like the decisions or fake like you like them, or leave. In Europe that style works very well and the company prospers. In Russia and China where huge focus has taken place more localization of decisions have benefited. The US struggles under management that is not American and no localized decision making. The remaining parts of the world are smaller markets and generally perform well with a European perspective.

Pros

Good location, if you live in downtown Portland. On-site sample room for creating new product was awesome, extremely helpful.

Cons

70% of my time was spent doing production/development, 30% on actual design. Simple processes were over-complicated, and when suggestions where were made to help simplify, the standard response was, "welcome to Adidas." People who had been there for years were extremely negative, most of the younger designers wanted to be working at Nike. The sweatshirt of choice for the apparel team was Uniglo, not even an Adidas sweatshirt. I think this says something about the brand. There's a lack of integrity, absolutely zero passion behind the product. Targeted consumer is a 17 year old suburban boy, which leaves very little opportunity to push the envelope and there's no risk taking, at all. Obvious, current trends were ignored. The team I worked with was surprised to find out that denim silhouettes have changed in the last 8 years!!.

Advice to Senior Management

Job titles/job description should match the job. Don't hire someone with 10 years of industry experience to do entry level production work. You must evolve, the brand, the product and the people.

Pros

The two best things about adidas are it's rich history and the workforce.

Cons

No career paths, outdated technology and equipment, European management that doesn't understand American pop culture, too much red tape, undefined rolls and responsibilities,

Advice to Senior Management

It takes money to make money. In Europe you might be able to get away with simply making great product. In the US you have to get the message out and realize that adidas hasn't been the most relevant brand in sports and pop culture since the 80's. It's time to spend a lot more advertising money.

Pros

Great brand. Strong heritage. Very dedicated people in the field and in lower levels at corporate.

Cons

Senior management is more focused on keeping themselves employed and moving up the food chain with Germany than they are about the people who work for them. Very unsupportive environment that lacks openness and communication such that information is traded as a commodity to get ahead. Not focused on the investment in people or workplace health.

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on your people and they may not leave you in droves... the biggest brand is across the river and they are the biggest brand for a reason. They care about their people.

Pros

When I started at adidas, I was drawn to the casual atmosphere and the fun people who made up the employee force. This is still true today. The company also offers a great benfits package, a 401(k) which they will match up to a certain extent, and ample FTO (Free TIme Off) Days. A starting employee has 1 week a quarter, plus a free floating holiday.

Cons

Career advancement can be tough. When jobs become available, they are not always fairly posted for everyone to know they are open. People are not always given the chance they should be and positions will just mysteriously get filled with someone the hiring manager already knows. Also, starting salaries are low, and raises are extremely tough to get.

Advice to Senior Management

Be as loyal and supportive to your employees as they have been to you and reward them financially.

Pros

fun enviorment. get to wear sports clothes to work in.

Cons

A lot of mgmt does not care about job. They do a poor job promoting within the company. nike is just a few miles away so alot of people switch between the two companies often. Nike generally pays better.

Advice to Senior Management

take care of the people that make your bonuses for you