What is the hiring process like at Trek Bicycle?

Great work life balance and great exposure

Hiring process needs to be better

Great benefits, Great work-life balance

long hiring process and no easy way to commute via public transportation

- Good Benefits - ESOP - Multimillion-Dollar Lodge and Trails at HQ - Charity Ride's are frequent - Plenty of OT Opportunities - Management on all levels at the distribution centers care about their employees - Warehouse keeps things fun despite the trying times. Still having events and get-togethers. Doing their best to keep things light. - Distribution hasn't stopped being innovative in saving money. Some failures, but overall successful adjustments to save money for the company, improve workflow and make a difference.

Trek has been on the decline since 2021. In 2020 they saw unprecedented and frankly overwhelming profit margins due to the “bike boom”. Good companies would take the influx of new cashflow and notoriety and reinvest it into long term growth and success. Good companies understand that the good times do not last forever. Many at the Trek understood these ideologies. It's a shame that the "Old boys club" at the top didn't have the same foresight. Trek is now the equivalent to the titanic post-collision with the iceberg, slowly sinking after the captain refused to see what was right in front of him. The Bad: - Overstaffing in 2020/2021 followed by layoffs (at HQ) and a hiring freeze that prevented backfilling departures (warehouses) that have now resulted in SEVERE understaffing. Those that made it out on the other side of the 10% reduction are now feeling the effects of a machine missing integral components. The busy season has yet to truly begin and it's already taking a toll on warehouse staff. - No raises for floor staff in 3 years. Management level hasn’t seen an increase in 2 years. - The lack of merit increases trickles down to the new hire level. Those that are brought it are hired at a base rate that pales in comparison to similar jobs in the area. This naturally provides less-than-desirable candidates, a good number of which have not lasted longer than a week. - GPTW Propaganda shoved down your throat. It's a tool to create a “standard” at the company, much like the Level 5 Minibus scores. However these metrics are often misleading, not truly showcasing the state of the company and its “mini-buses”. Survey questions that are geared towards your direct manager whom you often have good relationships with rather than the executives that make the real decisions. Don't get me wrong, having a good score on the survey is a good thing...for YOUR work unit. Obtaining a good score is something to have pride in. However Trek will take these scores and claim the valor associated with them. Issue a survey to collect thoughts on the approval of Trek's executives and it will paint a much different picture. - An encyclopedia of SKU’s that make inventory management a challenge. "Make products we love and are passionate about" is a phrase that get's thrown around a lot, but it's just not true. 40 models of just city-bikes is insane. Now factor in EBike, Kids, Mountain, Frame only, etc. John once told a story about how Trader Joe's kept it simple by only having a couple versions of their peanut butter and sales grew exponentially. Where's that inspiration going? - Somehow with no money, we’re still buying more stores. I don't even know where to start with this one. - Needs to do a better job of laying the groundwork and infrastructure before deploying new product or business practices. I.e. the Red Barn project. Very Very Very rocky day/week/month 1.

Looked after employees through tough times in 2020 to 2022 Clear company and store targets. Scope and agency given to staff to rectify issues instead of escalating Clear metrics for store performance vs National and Continental averages

I'm unsure if this is a unique experience for me but a pretty major personality clash lead me to leave and a lack of support from anyone more senior left me feeling pretty beaten up by internal company processes. I ended up placed on a PIP which seemed to be part of a process utilized by the store manager to get me to leave. I decided to exit the business rather than see out the processes which I would encourage anyone in the same position to do the same. Stella results in my department driven by my work didn't count for anything once the decision was made to make my life difficult.

- Great discounts on bikes, parts, and accessories - Work with great people. - Be a part of the cycle community. - Better than average training for basic skills. - Encouraged to do right for the customer.

- The Pay. You will watch friends leave because of the budget and then get an email the next day welcoming a new store that they took over. You can't keep telling your workers that you don't have the money for raises and then open/take over another store. - Overworked to the point of failure. Since stores don't have the budget, everyone remaining is going to have to "do more with less". The expectations and responsibilities keep growing but when you ask for help, all you get are empty platitudes. The harder you work, the more you are expected to do. - Communication is non-existent. If corporate ever does manage to address a problem, you can't be sure that they won't completely contradict themselves a month later. There is no consistency to anything Waterloo (HQ) says or does. If you are even lucky enough to get a good store manager, their hands will be tied by a useless corporate runaround. When I started with Trek is was told "everyone has their specific roles" and "do whatever you need to take care of the customer". When I left it was "everyone should be cross-trained" and "do right by the customer, but don't let it affect your budget". The real kick in the shins is that no one will ever recognize the change. It is Orwellian how everyone in Waterloo will act like "it has always been this way'. - District Managers are useless. In the good times, they would stop by once in a blue moon to hang out and talk about the good old days. Now that times are tough, they just come in to criticize. When they do show up, it is as nothing more than a time-suck. - Great Places to Work is a joke. Don't trust the numbers on this survey. Trek games the system by only allowing you to rate your teammates and your store. No one wants to castigate their teammates who are in the trenches with them, so Trek continues to receive an unearned score. This just furthers the point that your voice will not be heard. - Meaningless metrics. Your success will be judged on meaningless metrics and when those metrics don't show the company what they want to see, they dump them for a new made-up metric. Now even the service staff will have sales goals. - There are more issues, but the disrespect that came along with these six points are what caused me to leave.