Does Cotopaxi pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Cotopaxi employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.0 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Cotopaxi. This rating has decreased by 1% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Cotopaxi?

44% of Cotopaxi employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Cotopaxi 3.3 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.1 for culture and values and 3.0 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Cotopaxi?

Retail Guide (10) , Sales Associate (4) , Customer Experience Associate (3) , DC Associate (3) , Manager (3) , Marketing (3) , Retail Sales Associate (3) , Warehouse Associate (3) , Guide (2) , Intern (2) , Management (2)

What are the pros of working at Cotopaxi according to real employee reviews?

"And the people are great." ((in 17 reviews)); "The team is small, but everybody seems to wear many helpful hats around the office." ((in 16 reviews)); "Good benefits" ((in 8 reviews)); "Managers are competent, humble, and care about their teams" ((in 3 reviews)); "functional exposure and opportunities to own meaningful work." ((in 3 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Cotopaxi according to real employee reviews?

"The pay is abysmally low for a company as well funded as Cotopaxi." ((in 6 reviews)); "hours were hard to come by when management shifted" ((in 5 reviews)); "Can sometimes work late hours and holidays" ((in 3 reviews)); "Leadership seems disconnected from the mission that once defined the brand." ((in 3 reviews)); "Transparency and discussion for tough decisions, changes, and uncomfortable conversations needs some improvement." ((in 3 reviews))

What are employees saying about Cotopaxi layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Cotopaxi layoffs and their outlook for job security at Cotopaxi in 2026.

What are the top reviewed Cotopaxi locations?

Salt Lake City , Cottonwood Heights , Boise , Park City , Boulder , Denver , Orem , Berkeley , Concord , San Francisco , Seattle , West Valley City

Cotopaxi reviews

3.1

44% would recommend to a friend

(136 total reviews)

Lindsay Shumlas

46% approve of CEO

44% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

3.3

Work/Life balance

3.2

Diversity & inclusion

3.1

Culture & values

3.0

Compensation and benefits

3.0

Career opportunities

2.9

Senior management

Cotopaxi has an employee rating of 3.1 out of 5 stars, based on 136 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Cotopaxi employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

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Parent or family caregiver

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Reviews by job title

136 reviews

5.0

Mar 8, 2019

Positive exit, great place to work

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

You learn a lot about a company when you leave, and my exit reaffirmed my positive feelings for Cotopaxi. I was laid off as a result of budget cuts, and while I was very sad to leave, I was also very impressed by how the executive team handled it. It was made clear to me that they did not take the decision lightly, and they genuinely cared about my success. All of the executive team dedicated time to helping me transition, and leveraged their personal contacts to help me get another job.

Cons

Cotopaxi, like any company, is imperfect. Some of those imperfections can be amplified by the strains of growing, but the Cotopaxi management is true to their core values and, in my case at least, are succeeding in living up to their mantra of "Do Good".

Cotopaxi Response

7y

Earlier this year, as we refocused our efforts on areas of high-growth in the business, we decided to shift some of our resources away from our Questival events, which are amazing, but not growing like the rest of the business. Sadly, this meant an impact on two employees that we loved dearly. It still makes me sick thinking about it, even three months later. I personally spent time working with the two of them post-departure to help in any way in landing them a job at another company. I wrote countless emails to other CEO’s and wrote letters of recommendation. These two employees were world-class and it was a huge loss for our company to lose them. I’m still sad about it. - Davis Smith, CEO

5.0

Jan 6, 2019

Best Team I've Ever Worked With

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

The mission and the people behind the mission are some of the greatest parts of working at Cotopaxi. The amazing product and benefits are also a nice perk.

Cons

There's not always enough time or bandwidth to execute on all of the amazing ideas in the room.

2.0

Dec 13, 2018

Disappointing

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

small company, ability to make an impact as long as you can navigate the politics

Cons

below average compensation, no 401k. in terms of environmental and social impact, the company is genuinely focused on "doing good". But within the company and its professional contacts, people are routinely mistreated and taken advantage of. The culture is friendly, but superficial and closed minded, with a large dose of hubris mixed in. If you're a good "cultural fit" (read: white conservative), you may like it. If not, you're going to have a bad time.

Cotopaxi Response

7y

I genuinely appreciate the feedback. When an employee leaves a company or is let go, you often get some of the most authentic feedback, so thank you for taking the time to let us know about your experience. There are a few things I'd like to address: 1. Compensation: Our compensation is technically a little above average when measuring for salaries for similar jobs in Salt Lake City. That said, we are a startup. If you're looking to get the highest possible job, this probably isn't going to be the place to work. We're a team of people passionate about our social impact mission, about the outdoors, and about building something together. People work here because they love being a part of the Cotopaxi family. Compensation is probably a secondary priority. 2. 401k: We are a startup, and like most startups, we indeed did not have a 401k from 2014 - 2018, but nearly every employee gets equity in the business so that they own a piece of the business - with an upside as it grows. However, we are launching a 401k in Q1 of 2019, so we'll officially have a 401k in place in 2019, which I'm especially excited about. 3. I'm not exactly sure how to address the culture feedback. All I can say is that my experience and the experience of many others has been different from what you've experienced. I'm sorry that it felt superficial and that it fell short of your expectations. It's something I'm going to take back to my team and see how we can improve. One thing I would like to point out ... hearing Cotopaxi described as a "conservative" culture is a little confusing and surprising to me. We actively support causes with refugees. We have very liberal policies around paternity leave. It's hard to address politics, but the majority of our senior leadership are implants from California or the East Coast, which aren't traditionally conservative. That said, many of our younger employees are from Utah, which is certainly more conservative. I suppose your experience in this area is largely impacted by the people you interact with most within the company. Super interesting feedback. Definitely something for me to think about. Thanks again for taking the time to let us know about your experience, and I'm sorry it was a disappointing experience for you. Davis Smith, Founder & CEO

Viewing 106 - 108 of 136 Reviews

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Retail Sales Associate

Retail Sales Associate

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Assistant Store Manager

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