Fun growing company with little room for professional growth - Anonymous employee Brooks Running Employee Review

4.0
Mar 22, 2019
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible schedule, great coworkers, growing business, exercise/fitness encouraged, over-the-top inclusive, great product

Cons

Low pay for the area, favors specific departments, most top positions just get recruited out to execs from competitors, little to no growth potential if you're not in one of the golden departments

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Brooks Running Response
7y
Thank you for taking the time to share your point of view. I'm glad to hear there’s much you value about working at Brooks. In an ideal scenario, we would orchestrate growth with employee development such that we could promote from within to fill out our team as we grow globally. The reality is for a company our size, that is not always possible in every function. Sometimes the large scope of the role or the unique expertise required is not something we have been able to develop inside our team. Setting every leader up for success will give us the best chance at continuing to grow our brand, thus creating more employment opportunities down the line. Regarding pay, every year we consult third-party market data to benchmark each role at Brooks to ensure salaries remain competitive in our industry and against similar companies. Other programs unique to Brooks (e.g., annual bonus program, PTO policy, flex work, 401k, gear/race discounts, etc.) make our total compensation package compelling to most. Thank you for all you do for our customer, our team and the brand. Jim

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.

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