Pros
- Some really great employees at the store level, though it varies really widely by location. - The cool-aid is sweet. There really is some good substance here in what the company is doing. I really do believe in corporate responsibility and think that Patagonia is one of the better companies as a whole, though there are certainly some blatant hypocrisies, (you pull wool over one PETE video but keep churning out 30 colors of Snap-T's despite the water pollution??) - Some opportunities to build your resume by taking on some additional projects, (though few opportunities for true advancement). - Really good discount and health plan. - The day-to-day is actually fairly pleasant, but it's hard to ignore the bigger-picture problems when you've stuck around a while.
Cons
- Pay is a joke. Really crummy to hear about the company launching global fair trade programs, a venture capital program with their 'extra' profits, subsidized organic meals and childcare at HQ, etc. when the retail employees aren't paid living wages in some of the most expensive cities in the country. There aren't even merit-based raises, just a tiny yearly cost of living increase. It takes local legislation raising minimum wage to change this; if you're not in a city lucky enough to have this passed, they don't care. Upper management won't even have the conversation. - HR is non-existent at the store level and managers seem to receive basically no training. I witnessed coworkers pressuring another to skip the break they're legally entitled to. When I questioned it I was told not to worry about it, that the offending employee (who happened to be a favorite of upper manager) couldn't have possibly meant it like that. The employee bullied out of her break, (and eventually out of the store), didn't agree and neither did I. I also witnessed a manager habitually pursuing/dating employees (and making no secret that he viewed the seasonal hires as a 'new crop'-- his attitude toward me completely changed when he found out I wasn't single) and engaging in sexist commentary like, "I'd never date an M [medium] or above" in front of his employees. - Nepotism runs rampant at all levels of the company and hiring for 'culture fit' has actually led to a homogeneous group of people who are all convinced they're really 'different' but who are all 'different' in exactly the same way. I witnessed some fairly blatant bias towards a veteran during an interview-- nobody could (or wanted to) put into words why the candidate wasn't 'a fit', she 'just wasn't Patagonia'. The best way to advance in the company is to befriend the right people and consciously curate and promote a certain image. Skills are secondary. - The older stores need work. Some of them are literally falling apart and HQ seems completely unconcerned from either a customer perspective or an employee safety perspective. The employee break areas are especially shameful and in some instances unsafe, (shoddy extension cords strung over sinks, moldy corners, broken furniture).