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REI

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REI

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REI Reviews

Updated May 31, 2023

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Found 3,231 of over 3K reviews
3.9
75% Recommend to a Friend
REI President and CEO Eric Artz
56% Approve of CEO

Found 3,227 of over 3K reviews

3.9
75%
Recommend to a Friend
56%
Approve of CEO
REI President and CEO Eric Artz
Eric Artz
690 Ratings

What people are saying about REI

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Hi All, I have my education (masters) in Biomedical Engineering, and about 3 years in regulatory affairs and quality engineering in the medical device industry. Made a career shift back in 2020 to get some outdoor experience, get my WFR certification, and found work with REI where I am currently. I've gotten what I was looking for out of the career shift, though, and am looking to re-enter medical devices. Studying for my Med Device RAC in Spring. Any tips or referrals would be appreciated!

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Top Review Highlights by Sentiment

Pros
  • "Great for people that enjoy the outdoors particularly if you are looking for deep discounts on outdoor product for yourself.(in 331 reviews)
  • "Great Benefits and Awesome discounts on outdoor gear(in 247 reviews)
  • "Great coworkers like minded individuals that will help and support the team(in 210 reviews)
  • "REI has a great culture for those who are or want to be involved with the outdoors.(in 114 reviews)
  • "Great work/life balance in a company with like(in 110 reviews)
Cons
  • "Low pay and even lower pay for those with over 20 years in the company.(in 295 reviews)
  • "Bad management and not much growth(in 168 reviews)
  • "Some managers don't appreciate hard work and favor employees who make them feel liked.(in 90 reviews)
  • "Senior Leadership has low awareness of the challenges of getting work done and dismisses the feedback from employees.(in 34 reviews)
  • "Low wages and hours here.(in 22 reviews)
Pros & Cons are excerpts from user reviews. They are not authored by Glassdoor.

Ratings by Demographics

This rating reflects the overall rating of REI and is not affected by filters.

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  1. 5.0
    Former Employee, less than 1 year
    Featured Review

    REI

    Apr 4, 2023 - Retail Sales Associate in Ann Arbor, MI
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    Great work environment and the managers/leads are very caring.

    Cons

    Nothing to say about cons

    Be the first to find this review helpful
  2. 5.0
    Current Employee, more than 3 years

    Love it here

    May 30, 2023 - Retail Sales Associate 
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    Great environment Feels like a family

    Cons

    Hours are not set and often fluctuate

    Be the first to find this review helpful
  3. Join the REI team
    See Our Latest Jobs
  4. 1.0
    Current Employee

    IT’S A TRAP! RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN

    May 8, 2023 - Sales Lead 
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    The people I work with are pretty rad

    Cons

    ❌ LOW PAY: Raises are few and far between EVEN if you’re a top seller and in a leadership position. For the amount of pressure they put on retail workers to sell memberships, there are no tangible incentives. It’s work harder for no extra. ❌INCONSISTENT HOURS: If you’re not a sales lead, your hours depend on your membership sales, and if you have an off week, you will get fewer hours the following week. ❌TOXIC ENVIRONMENT: Leadership treats their employees like children, often times giving band-aid solutions to gun shot wound problems. They’re very good at blowing smoke and side stepping questions about pay increase. ❌GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES ARE A JOKE: They’ll skimp on your raise and tell you it’s so that you have head room for future raises. It’s unlikely that you’ll ever get a raise that will be impactful.

    Continue reading
    1 person found this review helpful
  5. 4.0
    Former Employee, less than 1 year

    Great place to work if only they paid a living wage

    May 27, 2023 - Sales Associate in Durham, NC
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    They walk their talk about life/work balance. They care about the customer. They provide excellent training, good benefits and nice perks in terms of employee discounts. Their products are really good although a bit on the expensive side.

    Cons

    Like any retail job you are dealing with the public. You have to like interacting and helping people. Retail anywhere is hard to find a living wage unless you stay at one place for a super long time. The economy affects retail businesses a lot. Even though it seems as if there are always people who want to have fun outdoors, they need to be employed to buy products.

    Continue reading
    Be the first to find this review helpful
  6. 1.0
    Former Employee, more than 1 year

    Do Not Work Here

    Mar 21, 2023 - Retail Sales Associate in Portland, OR
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    Mostly super cool co-workers Pro Deals are awesome

    Cons

    Literally everything else. REI has created this mirage surrounding its incredible culture. The reality is that you will spend all of your time competing with your co-workers for hours and growth opportunities. You will be overseen by a management team that puts absolutely zero value into anything other than your ability to sell memberships. In my store we literally have a racist employee who profiles all the customers and he still gets more hours and acknowledgement from management than far more deserving employees, and it's because he sells tons of memberships. Priorities in this company are completely off the rails.

    Continue reading
    5 people found this review helpful
  7. 3.0
    Former Employee, less than 1 year

    REI Boulder Workplace

    May 25, 2023 - Retail Sales Associate in Boulder, CO
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    You get 30% off everything in the store and 50% off REI products.

    Cons

    The people there were hard to get to know. I felt like I didn’t belong most of the time and it was hard being myself in that environment. The retail manager also didn’t observe us that often and took feedback from other employees and didn’t see what was actually going on.

    Continue reading
    Be the first to find this review helpful
  8. 5.0
    Former Employee, less than 1 year

    Great people. Travel loving Customers. Great Training

    May 29, 2023 - Soft Goods Associate in Virginia Beach, VA
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    For starters, REI provides and extensive and ongoing training program that educates you on products and customer service. Plus manangment is always available for questions and guidance. I would say that 80% of the customers who came into the store were buying gear for a trip so it was very interesting to find out where they were going and how I could help them.

    Cons

    Spending time on my feet on hard, concrete floors

    Continue reading
    Be the first to find this review helpful
  9. 4.0
    Former Employee, more than 3 years

    Great place to work

    May 14, 2023 - Retail Sales Associate in Westbrook, ME
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    Staff tends to be great. People that come and work for REI have experience in the field… there’s room to improve and learn new skills. From clothing, equipment materials and construction of diverse items the store sell. Perks that come with the benefit of multiple vendors that enjoy and promote a life outdoors.

    Cons

    Pay is not great. Tends to be slightly above minimum wage for their own state. Definitely you work in REI because you love what you do, not because of the career.

    Continue reading
    Be the first to find this review helpful
  10. 2.0
    Former Employee

    Toxic Environment

    Mar 17, 2023 - Operations Supervisor in Goodyear, AZ
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    Some co workers are just awesome humans! Pro deals are pretty neat. The employee store is fun!

    Cons

    Every manager is metric driven, don’t waste your time asking them what the metrics mean, how they are calculated or metric improvement….. Their stake in the metrics is summit payments which translates to harping supervisors to exploit their associates so management can get the biggest summit payout. Pay structure and incentives are heavily invested in senior management and network management and boy are they so not in touch with reality they truly believes buying an associate a cookies is a job well done! How about coming out of your ivory towering and answering difficult questions versus making sure your car batteries are charged. My favorite part is when network leadership creates a new pointless report and the direct waddles out to the production floor and tries to explain, lol! The culture, oh wait there isn’t one. HR is the worst, depending on their mood, how made they are at their spouse the same situation will be handled differently. Our policies are one huge grey book open for terrible interpretation by a power hungry person that is very mean.

    Continue reading
    2 people found this review helpful
  11. 4.0
    Former Employee, less than 1 year

    Transparency

    Jan 26, 2023 - Customer Service Representative 
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    Great paid training, good retention, decent work culture and sick leave policies, easy resources to keep customers happy, supportive management.

    Cons

    Customer service sucks, you’ll get yelled at in your own home, but your managers support setting boundaries with bullies. It doesn’t pay enough for the stress or keep up with living wage expectations despite the rhetoric around work/life balance. Perks only go so far when you’re living on a barely surviving wage. All work and time is recorded and quantified in a system that you’ll be nitpicked about and criticized for in meetings with supervisors.

    Continue reading
    4 people found this review helpful
Viewing 1 - 10 of 3,227 Reviews
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REI Reviews FAQs

REI has an overall rating of 3.9 out of 5, based on over 3,316 reviews left anonymously by employees. 75% of employees would recommend working at REI to a friend and 54% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has decreased by -3% over the last 12 months.

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, REI employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.6 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at REI. This rating has improved by 1% over the last 12 months.

75% of REI employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated REI 3.9 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.1 for culture and values and 3.3 for career opportunities.

According to reviews on Glassdoor, employees commonly mention the pros of working at REI to be career development, culture, benefits and the cons to be senior leadership, management, compensation.

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REI Careers

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Who we are At Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) we believe a life outdoors is a life well-lived. We believe that it’s in the wild,...More

  • Diversity and Inclusion
  • Benefits
  • Culture and Values
This is the employer's chance to tell you why you should work for them. The information provided is from their perspective.

Reviews by Job Title

Company Updates

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REI

45 days ago

Company News
At REI, we’re a purpose-driven co-op. We measure our success not just by how we do as a business, but how we make a positive impact on employees, members and society. We are proud to be named #1 on Forbes’ Best Brand for Social Impact list. #REIemployee #furthertogether #socialimpact #wearehiring
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REI

124 days ago

Careers
Do you want to make a meaningful impact? REI is opening a state-of-the-art distribution center in Lebanon, TN and we want you to join our team. Apply today! At REI, we are a diverse team grounded in working together for a single purpose. Every day, we impact millions of people and the environment by achieving big things with great people. In pursuit of a life well lived, we strive to bring people and nature closer together. Help us serve our growing outdoor community of nearly 5.6 million lifetime members in the Midwest, Southeast and East Coast. Work alongside other people who are passionate about building community and love the outdoors. 🏕 What's the best part? Take advantage of the outdoors and work in a new LEED Certified facility powered by 100% renewable energy.  🎇 Some specific roles beginning to be posted as early as January 2023! #supplychain #supplychainjobs #jobs #hiring
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REI Photos

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REI photo of: Green Vest always ready to assist our members.
REI photo of: Reception area in our Sumner Distribution & Customer contact center
REI photo of: One of the many areas on campus to unwind & relax...
REI photo of: Working hard at headquarters
REI photo of: A great start to any day is a green vest huddle!
REI photo of: A popular feature to our campus- our indoor bike rack storage! Perfect for the rainy northwest season!
REI photo of: REI team members at our contact center-- helping out our customers!
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