Good for Growth, Bad for Career - General Manager 5.11 Employee Review

3.0
Dec 20, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

On the retail side: If you're looking to grow into a Store Manager role, this is a great place to do that and you will acquire some amazing leadership skills. The corporate culture on the retail side is pretty great too, the leaders do care, but they are all worked to death and don't have the bandwidth to effectively problem solve. I enjoyed working here and enjoyed my teammates and my leadership, I just became exhausted from working without support. There is also a great discounting program for employees that allows you to fill out your wardrobe. The benefits and PTO plan are pretty amazing too. The PTO plan here is second-to-none, I'll miss that! If you choose to, you can travel to various 5.11 stores around the country. If you like to travel, this is a great place to foster that love. The actual product 5.11 makes is pretty incredible too. There's a lot of benefits, it's a great place to be. The other sides of 5.11 outside of retail are pretty amazing! The professional sales team, MIL/FED team, etc. are all awesome people. I cannot stress enough that the corporate culture here is great.

Cons

On the retail side: once you hit Manager, there isn't any more room for growth and moving into the other branches of 5.11 is near impossible (Sales, HR, Operations, etc.). Promoting from within happens, but is passed on often. It's a fairly large work load in comparison to other retail environments...be prepared to do visual merchandising updates a lot. The retail pay is also pretty far behind 5.11s competitors.

Explore other reviews about 5.11

5.0
Feb 14, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great atmosphere and great coworkers

Cons

I don't have any cons for this company

4.0
Jun 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Compared to my prior employer, the workload is much reduced while the pay is a substantial increase. I feel that store and District leadership is a lot more willing to back you up compared to Prior employers I've had, and there is a good amount of freedom to be had. The company is also expanding so the opportunity for growth is also higher than with other Industries right now.

Cons

The company seems to be a bit schizophrenic at the moment when it comes to certain things and operations are suffering to a degree because of it.

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