Informative Look at Corporate Culture - Sales Associate I Brooks Running Employee Review

2.0
Feb 22, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Brooks is a small but well-known and respected running shoe company. Because it's small, even someone in a part-time sales associate position can easily connect with others in the corporate offices and find opportunities. It's possible to advance career-wise, although it was becoming more difficult around the time I left. There are some very passionate and talented professionals at Brooks, although they are the exception in many cases.

Cons

Overall, the salaries aren't very competitive for Seattle and the result is that it's a mixed bag in terms of how motivated people are to do well. During my tenure there we had a manager who did a lot of unprofessional things, and you would not believe how difficult it was to get anyone in the corporate offices to care: there's something of a boys club culture throughout management. I saw a lot of unprofessional behavior during my time with the company, almost all of it coming from managers or senior executives.

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Brooks Running Response
7y
Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback—I sincerely value it. It is always our goal to make Brooks a place where every employee feels welcome, respected and able to contribute his or her best self. I'm troubled to hear your personal experience at Brooks wasn't positive. Every employee’s manager matters and at Brooks we have never been more intentional and proactive about training all our leaders to be more effective every day. In fact, this week we're launching the most comprehensive people manager development training we’ve ever provided at Brooks. Targeting all managers (including me!), the training’s 5-day curriculum covers topics like morale, behavior styles, listening skills, and creating a positive and professional workplace. Our goal is to level set understanding and expectations regarding appropriate manager behaviors so we can lead and support our employees with respect, intention and consistency across the company. It won’t create perfection overnight, but I think it will be a giant step in the right direction. We can all be better at leading and working as a team. I think it's an extremely exciting and dynamic time to be part of Brooks. The growth we've seen in the market with runners choosing our brand and our products has been leading our industry. None of it would be possible without execution excellence from the passionate, talented and hard-working people of Brooks around the globe. I wish you all the best in your next chapter. Jim

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5.0
Jun 16, 2026
Anonymous contractor
Recommend
CEO approval
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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.

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