Push to sell memberships can feel ingenuine - wants to see 1 membership per shift average (no commission, just numbers).
Many coworkers raised concerns about unfair working standards (low pay, even though several protesting this were making 16-19$ per hour part time, received benefits, and were demanding some decently unreasonable workplace accommodations) - this created some tension between employees, especially ones pressuring you to join their cause or using vocab like “comrades” with other employees, and between management as all employees had to be extra careful about what they were saying (managers too). For a while this also made work place relationships awkward as those who you were less close with suddenly tried to be “friends” and extra sensitive to your needs to earn your favor.
In my department I was overall pretty comfy!
Adam, the store manager can feel a little more fake and focused on corporate numbers than the department managers do. He can feel a little detached from others but tries to remain positive. Others who worked more closely with him definitely could speak more to his teamwork style, but I can’t as well due to working more closely with my department manager ~ who was pretty rad.
You typically only have issues if you’re consistently unreliable, not punctual, or if you carelessly stir pots.
Inconsistent hours if you’re not full time or more veteran status - slow seasons can really hurt you and last for VeRy long times. If this part time job is for life sustaining reasons I’d address this before hiring and make sure you are guaranteed a certain number of hours on paper or make sure you have a very reliable second gig.
Values of REI appear to be shifting as wealthy board members and influential decision makers are joining that do not have values aligned with REIs missions and values.
Several years ago, store managers would give like $1 raises if they wanted, but now REI controls this and raises are offered at ~3% increase if you meet performance expectations every year? Something like that.
