Is work-life balance possible for REI employees on public assistance or with three jobs?
Pros
-Your pick-of-the-crop, over educated, underachieving coworkers really are amazing people with whom you'll establish long-term relationships and likely bond with over the Management-Vs-Grunts mentality that develops when you Need to work for the income (Versus the retirees, real-job, and 3rd income crowd who work for fun and see management/corporate as do-no-wrong types). -You'll learn where all the secret hiking trails and illegal Mt. Bike trails are in your area. This is cool. -Access to steeply discounted gear. However, a gear discount does not pay a mortgage and you will be unlikely to purchase the gear you need if you work at REI to pay your bills. More likely you will look longingly at the super high-quality gear available to you for pennies on the dollar and simply dream about it while waiting in line with ever other discount gear shopper, at your OWN STORE, trying to purchase USED EQUIPMENT during a used gear sale. -You will be the hit of the party when people find out you work at REI. This can be fun. -It is generally a clean, well maintained, well lit and nice place to spend time. -Depending on your store location, you may or may not have great customers (mall vs standalone vs urban vs suburban): Choose your location wisely. -If you don't NEED a job, but want to work somewhere cool, and love the outdoors, you will have an amazing time at REI.
Cons
-Personality-based management at the store level instead of mission based. -A complete lack of continuous improvement: More than 100 stores and year after year we have to reinvent the wheel to solve problems - there is no communication between stores (grunt level), no way to share the lessons learned. -If you speak up you may be punished: hours suddenly cut (which may result in loss of health benefits) -No regular hours, even for people who put in many years. -REI, are you listening? There is NO work-life balance for your employees on public assistance, or those who are required to take 3rd jobs to make ends meet. They sell the gear and offer information on hikes and where to ski but will never have the time or money to go themselves. -While REI obtains annually the coveted Best Places to Work award, the data is not posted for analysis. If the survey data was segmented I am sure those who work at the bottom (for the money, not for fun) would score the company very low. -Low hour employees do not benefit from profit sharing -Over the last few years hours that used to go to improving worker experience have been cut increasing the aggravation factor among employees. This unfortunately transfers to our customers.