It's chaos, not in a good way - Anonymous employee Trek Bicycle Employee Review

2.0
14 Nov 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Company President is really inspiring - his leadership/vision makes you embrace what he’s saying and want to be a part of it. He makes interesting videos every month or so, which helps employees feel connected to upper management - Fascinating company history and they have regular meetings to keep employees informed on the company’s financial situation and just interesting updates - The discounts on products are even better than they tell you in the interviews - Great cafe with excellent food, good variety, and friendly staff - HR people are nice

Cons

- Disorganized and chaotic. There is no process control, no document control, no change control, no data integrity, and no QA. Anyone can write an SOP on any topic and no one will review or approve it; it’s just final once you decide you’re done writing it. - Managers demand that you complete “Process Improvement” but there is no framework for this; no DMAIC, no metrics, no methodology, no parameters, no proper analysis, and they have no interest in measurability. Managers really just want you to change something - ANYTHING - immediately. It doesn’t even need to be an improvement - just make literally any change even if it makes it worse, and do it NOW. - There is no duplication of work, so only one person knows how to do each role and if they leave, their knowledge goes with them. The “Everyone is a mini-CEO” philosophy is well recognized as an irresponsible business practice; it leaves the company too vulnerable to the actions of individuals. - There is no training, even for a role requiring a high level of complex analysis and problem solving. Manager stated “It’s easier for me to do the work myself than train someone how to do it.” According to the manager, training means “We show you around, introduce you to the department, and that should be enough.” Inexperienced manager used fear and threats from the get-go rather than training and development. - Managers demand that you create new procedures for handling processes with significant financial and legal implications without any second set of eyes on what you’re doing, and then you will be the only person executing the procedures once you’ve created them. They do not want to review it, they just want you to do it - immediately - with no process for review or input from upstream, downstream, or cross-functional teams to ensure requirements are being met. Having one individual create and execute financial procedures is irresponsible to say the least - this is a huge liability for the company, leaving the door open for potential fraud and simple human error.

Explore other reviews about Trek Bicycle

5.0
27 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great culture, decent work like balance

Cons

No room for growth, bike industry is going down hill

1.0
1 Feb 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The people you work with are awesome. If you don't make some lifelong friends here, you're probably doing something wrong.

Cons

A few years ago, there was a change at TREK. It didn't happen quickly, but the culture started to change as the industry started to return to pre-covid business. Many of the people that helped shape TREK's amazing culture started to leave. Those that stayed endure brutal layoffs and report to people that now exist in their positions only for their own self-interest. You have to understand that TREK was not a company that many people used to leave. The direction of the company feels uncertain. Leadership seems to care little about retaining long term employees. They have let so many people go in different fields that a lot of day-to-day operations seem to slow down. Purchasing customers also led to a major shift in how the company runs today. It's much less calculated, and directional changes in how the company operates seem to happen with no notice and with poor planning. TREK will eventually find it's path forward, but it's doing so at a steep cost - the loss of dedicated and loyal employees that were there for the mission and future of the company. They brought integrity, (real) brutal honesty and vision for what the company could be. The only thing keeping TREK in it's market leading position today is simply how poorly the rest of the cycling industry is doing right now.

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