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Outdoor Research

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Outdoor Research reviews

3.5

52% would recommend to a friend

(59 total reviews)

Dan Nordstrom

56% approve of CEO

37% positive business outlook

Outdoor Research has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 59 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Outdoor Research employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

59 reviews
3.0
Dec 14, 2014

It could be amazing

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The people are by far the greatest thing about working at OR. People are accepting and the culture is coveted by everyone. They also have a great work-life balance. Because the pay is low there's a chance to get in the door for entry level candidates.

Cons

It's hard to cut through what they say they want to be and what their actions actually support. They focus on too many things to be really good at any of them. There's also virtually no upward mobility and micro-management of decisions is a trend from the top down.

4.0
Sep 30, 2014

I look forward to going to work and working with people at OR

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There is a great company culture that encourages employees to pursue their passions and inspires them to want to work hard. I feel completely supported and comfortable asking for help. I think it is great to work for a company that has the warehouse, factory, retail store and corporate offices all in one building. This allows employees to gain unique experience in the industry that other companies do not.

Cons

In my specific role, I am very confined to certain hours. I think it would be nice to have some more flexibility in my schedule. Also, the compensation is lower than anywhere else I have worked. That said, I believe this to be the norm for the Outdoor Industry. We do have great gear benefits so if you buy a lot of gear then you save money that way.

3.0
Aug 23, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Working at Outdoor Research means you'll work with really talented, hard working, fun, outdoors type people. You'll also get great discounts on Outdoor Research stuff. Flexible work hours and a decent work/life balance are also a good benefit of working here.

Cons

Salaries are really, really low. Not just for Seattle, but for the outdoor industry, and that's bad. What the company pays it's employees is crazy, at least 25% less than they could make at competing companies. There's also zero opportunity to advance in your career - lots of employees have been in the same jobs for five or six years or more with no raise. The company justifies it's cheapness by saying, "Hey, it's the outdoor industry", giving employees discounts on jackets and stuff, and providing one ski day every year, which is supposed to make up for everyone being badly paid. But the employees aren't idiots (we know we can make more somewhere else and that lots of companies offer flexible hours and other benefits like OR) and their will soon be a lot of people leaving if things don't improve pretty quick. Most employees are very frustrated about their pay. Nobody knows if management doesn't know that salaries are bad or if they don't care. Communication from upper management on the subject and basically everything is terrible. But in regard to everything else, micromanagement from upper management happens all the time. Also, employees have too much work to do consitently high quality work, but there doesn't seem to be a plan to grow the number of people who work there.

Viewing 52 - 54 of 59 Reviews

Glassdoor has 65 Outdoor Research reviews submitted anonymously by Outdoor Research employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Outdoor Research is right for you.