REI reviews

3.6

63% would recommend to a friend

(4,368 total reviews)
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Mary Beth Laughton

35% approve of CEO

34% positive business outlook

REI has an employee rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 4,368 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The REI 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

4K reviews
3.0
Mar 2, 2014

Fun place to work but not a career

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

If you're just working part-time, it's a great place. Flexible work hours, great deals on gear.

Cons

Impossible to work at a retail store and support yourself. Even as a top performer, you still can't get 40 hours a week. Management hasn't actually been well-trained and are typically not the most intelligent people - just the people who have been there the longest.

4.0
Feb 25, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Pro-Deal discounts, lots of vendors come to talk about their products, exposure to people of different walks of life, opportunities to take charge of projects, relaxed workplace, relatively easy to have a work/life balance

Cons

Lots of hoops to jump though to reach management, poor communication from time to time from company heads, high standards of selling memberships on a regular basis, hours based on sales (how many memberships you sell during your shift)

2.0
Feb 25, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Prodeals, mostly good coworkers, getting to try out new gear.

Cons

Selling memberships is their number one goal. Not customer service, not community service, not educating their employees to be experts in camping or footwear or action sports. The REI "expert in a green vest" is an expert at selling memberships, not at hiking, biking, skiing, or backpacking. Outreach classes have been almost non-existent over the last 6 months, informational 'morning huddles' deal exclusively with membership sales and not with product information, knowledgeable employees have been forced out due to "scheduling conflicts" while employees with no product knowledge and limited outdoor experience who have become close friends with management get almost 40 hours a week. Store management has become insular, hiding in their offices for hours on end, never coming out to the sales floor, ignoring employees whose views do not align perfectly with their own, promoting only those one or two employees who only tell them how wonderful they are, the store manager allows the sales managers to rule through fear and ignorance while he sits in his office and waits to retire.

Viewing 4012 - 4014 of 4,368 Reviews

Glassdoor has 4,507 REI reviews submitted anonymously by REI employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if REI is right for you.