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Columbia Sportswear

Engaged Employer

Columbia Sportswear reviews

3.7

67% would recommend to a friend

(1,322 total reviews)
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Tim Boyle

66% approve of CEO

54% positive business outlook

Columbia Sportswear has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 1,322 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Columbia Sportswear employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

1K reviews
2.0
Nov 15, 2018

Supply Chain

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great company if you are looking for a cookie cutter job. I quickly learned that Billion dollar corporate environments aren't for me. Too much red tape and lack of culture. If you are looking for exposure into the outdoor industry this is NOT the company for you, If you are looking for an extension of high school where all work flow is a hand holding operation and personal drama permeates the windowless office... this is the place for you! Another Pro is the on campus bar... but... it's not used as frequently as you'd think and it's hard to motivate people to go over to hang out. OH, if you take a job here NEGOTIATE FOR PARKING PERMIT. If you're new and don't know better they will issue you a parking permit a half mile away in a church parking lot... they have a shuttle that runs laps but it's only half a mile and 99% of the people that park in the lot take the shuttle... If you make it a point to walk every day, wave to the shuttle drivers so they know you (they are also responsible for "ticketing" cars parked in the wrong lots). Once you build a respectful rapport with them you can park in the "adult" lot and they won't ticket you. Also make friends with the kitchen people... free food.

Cons

Lack of Autonomy. Lack of direction for workplace environment and culture. very little professional movement within the company. People bring personal drama to the work place (been in countless meetings where various people would cry and talk about personal things). The management structure is really weird... hard to explain but hopefully you can get a solid picture from all the comments in the reviews. The office culture isn't of the typical outdoor industry mindset, the majority of employees consider going outside to smoke or walking their dog to the park a major outdoor endeavor... The deal perks are okay. It's not hard to come by employee store passes anyway and it's only whsl pricing. If you're looking for killer industry deals you're better off working at a outdoor retail shop as a buyer. The 2020 4billion goal is going to be a huge stretch for the company, probably lots of changes between now and then and likely after.

1.0
Dec 8, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Food and volleyball. OK wages and benefits.

Cons

The place is basically a little fiefdom for the Boyle family. The Boyles run the place with an iron fist and promotions are handed out to the best toadies. The 3rd generation of Boyles is now firmly in place as successors to the 2nd generation. In general, the VPs and Directors are second rate throwaways from Nike, Adidas and other tier one players. The IT department is so backwards I can't even begin to describe the dysfunction. The Human Resources department is like the secret police, they are basically spies for management. The 15 months I worked there as a business intelligence analyst were the most depressing of my 30 year career. Every promise I was given to come work at Columbia was immediately disregarded the moment I started work.

2.0
Apr 10, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Employee discount on merchandise , pretty good medical insurance, free beer once in a while, you get paid.

Cons

Extremely siloed work, very unprofessional and disrespectful two faced management, no cafeteria in our building, terrible systems on all fronts, turnover is the worst I have ever seen, everyone has a “not my job, not my problem” attitude including management, management trash talks former employees, immediate supervisor was a bully, cannot work from home unless there is a real emergency, the problems were daily, serious and never ending with very little urgency to fix.

Viewing 10 - 12 of 1,322 Reviews

Glassdoor has 1,495 Columbia Sportswear reviews submitted anonymously by Columbia Sportswear employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Columbia Sportswear is right for you.