Better be willing to fight for your promotions and personal growth - no one else will! - Anonymous employee Brooks Running Employee Review

2.0
Aug 13, 2011
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Ability to run during lunch breaks (encouraged to do so by most departments). Free clothing and shoes if you are sample size. Casual clothing and fun dress up days. Customer service department is filled with fun, energetic people (I didn’t work in that department). Always have a running buddy available that is your speed. Some people are extremely genuine and wonderful to work with (likely you will have to look outside of your department to find this though).

Cons

Gentle personalities never are promoted – you have be competitive and pushy to ever be noticed. Underpaid - the stress that employees are put under makes the money not worth it. If you aren’t fast, you aren’t in the “cool club”. Environment isn’t professional (reminds me of high school where the cool kids make the calls, and everyone else is expected to follow). Women are overlooked unless they have an aggressive personality and speak their minds all the time. Particular departments don’t encourage working out and being healthy which makes it hard if you are part of that department and want to enjoy the Brooks atmosphere as a whole. Work load is never constant - often it is way too much, other times it is just right. One of those companies that from the outside looks like the best place to work ever, but once you finally get there, you are left disappointed.

Explore other reviews about Brooks Running

5.0
Jun 16, 2026
Anonymous contractor
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- excellent employee perks - gorgeous HQ office buildings with amenities - free lunch - supportive and passionate team members

Cons

- parking is not free for employees, but there are commuter benefits to offset that

2.0
Jun 7, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

PTO and benefits are good. There is free lunch and an onsite gym. Employees are encouraged to run and stay active, with office next to the Burke-Gilman running trail.

Cons

The culture is presented as fun and healthy but in reality it is fairly toxic within specific departments and feels very “high school”. It is also very hierarchical with lots of corporate bureaucracy. The company caters more to middle and upper level management, so expect limited growth and development opportunities. Unclear, constantly changing expectations and overlapping job roles are a common theme. Leadership is not held accountable within the organization. People who play the game and assimilate to the culture are rewarded and perpetuate the status quo way of doing things. This leads to a lack of diversity in thought but also diversity in general especially at the leadership level. There is an added complexity to everything that makes even the most simple work difficult. Everyone is overwhelmed by too many meetings and yet there is not a lot of cross-functional collaboration, as all of the teams work in silos and compete for resources. The company is trying to become a more global, but there are a lot of growing pains associated with this. For a growing company with headquarters in a location like Seattle, the pay is low and not competitive enough to attract and retain top talent. The office buildings also face local area constraints like expensive parking which is passed on to the employee. The company incentivizes alternative transportation but it can be difficult to figure out the best way to get to work. There has been reduced flexibility to work from home with more emphasis put on being in the office.

1
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All