You can’t build a business on buzz words. - Anonymous employee Brooks Running Employee Review

1.0
Jul 10, 2015
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Deep discount to employees to purchase Brooks Product. New Office Seattle Location

Cons

Brooks management suffers from too big to fail syndrome. No matter what, nothing bad will happen to them because they are owned by Berkshire Hathaway and BH is there to bail them out. It has produced an ineffective management team that feels entitled and is not held accountable. The business is suffering. RIP fun quirky Brooks because Brooks has sold out. It isn’t about people, passion and product; it’s about money. The focus is on becoming a billion dollar brand. That’s why all the zero-to-heroes have been brought in; to lead them to the billion dollar Promised Land. The zero-to-heroes go around Brooks spouting buzz words while riding on the shoulders of the individual contributors. Management is impressed by their buzz words, but don’t square it up to see if the “buzz” is beneficial. A big problem is that Brooks management is out of touch. When key people started leaving management buried their heads in the sand and listened to the “spin” verses finding out why they left. For example, when I left, HR did not contact me. No call, no exit interview…nothing. When long term employees start leaving it is a problem. Brooks was a good company to work for. That is all gone. They drank their own kool-aid. Now it’s an ivory tower for a shrinking company with management that self-promotes and builds their career on buzz words until someone catches on; and then they are off to the next job leaving a mess in their wake.

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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