REI Announces Layoffs For 8% Of HQ Staff

SEATTLE — REI on Wednesday become the latest Puget Sound employer to announce corporate layoffs, which will impact 167 employees, or 8 percent of the co-op's headquarters workforce.

REI CEO Eric Artz shared a letter with employees Tuesday, which was made published Wednesday, blaming "increasing uncertainty" and a need to restructure and refocus the 85-year-old company to be more profitable.

"I know we can get there, but it will require each of us to work very differently," Artz wrote. "In the year ahead, we will align around a few vital strategic priorities to ensure we are making the best use of the co-op's resources to serve members, customers, and support our long-term impact goals. This also means centering our work around the customer and member experience."

Artz said the organizational change will entail reorganizing and combining certain divisions, while reducing the overall size of the headquarters' teams to "align the co-op's resources and people to the areas of highest impact."

In 2020, REI abandoned plans to move into a new Bellevue headquarters in favor of a decentralized work model across several satellite offices, including in Seattle, Issaquah and Sumner.

According to The Seattle Times, REI reported $3.7 billion in revenue in 2021, up 36 percent from the year before. The layoffs follow similar moves from other big employers around Puget Sound, including Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta.

REI said all outgoing full-time employees would receive a severance package, payouts for remaining vacation time and outstanding bonuses, and four months of COBRA health care coverage.