Patagonia says customer service is facing 300% overstaffing, is asking employees to transfer or leave

Additionally, Patagonia’s conscious approach to business has long extended to its employees. Yvon Chouinard, the enigmatic climber turned entrepreneur who founded the company, established flexible working hours from the start that gave employees the freedom to chase the waves when the surf was good, or pick up their kids from school – all part of an alternative. approach to beat the waves. The works that Chouinard outlines in his autobiography, Let my people go surfing.

So it was no surprise that this move made headlines when Patagonia announced earlier this week that it was asking a third of its customer service representatives to relocate to one of seven cities in the United States or leave the company.

“We are thrilled to partner with Patagonia to create this exciting new generation of leaders,” said Corley Kenna, Patagonia’s Chief Communications Officer. luck The customer service team, which has been working entirely remotely since the pandemic, saw a 200 to 300% growth in headcount over the past year.

“Employees often only work two hours a day,” Kenna said. “That’s not good for your career. That’s not good for the company.”

According to Kenna, the company began testing the “hub” model last year. luck, This is largely due to the negative feedback she receives about working fully remotely.

“A lot of (employees) “They missed a lot of the important cultural aspects that come with Patagonia and that come from being close to people. They also worried about career transition and career growth and felt a little bit isolated because of that.”

The new model required 90 of 255 employees to move within 60 miles of a new “hub” city: Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Reno, Dallas, Austin, Chicago or Pittsburgh. Employees were asked to make a decision by Friday, and if they choose to move, they must move elsewhere by September 30. The company said it would help pay for relocation costs.

Some employees say the time they were given to make a decision was rushed and unreasonable.

“Making the decision to change your life and move to another city is a big decision, and you have to do it in two or three days?” one employee told The New York Times. Ventura County Star, Who announced the decision first?

Kenna says she understands why some employees are angry, but Patagonia has been open about the move to a hub model. Given the company’s overstaffing problem, this could have happened earlier.

“We really wanted to be intentional and we wanted to make sure this was the right model,” she said. luck. “We knew that this was going to impact a lot of people, so we took it very seriously to think about all the different ways that we could take care of our employees. So I think this is a fair decision, but I think this is our real response.

Kenna also said there was some flexibility regarding Friday’s deadline.

In 2023, Patagonia was named the world’s most recognized brand, up from third place last year, according to the annual Harris Poll on Business Reputation. In 2024 it dropped to eighth place.

In 2022, Chouinard and his family donated their profits from the $3 billion company, dividing the company’s stock into two new funds designed to tackle climate change. Since the restructuring took effect, more than $70 million has been transferred from the company to environmental organizations and other nonprofits, according to The New York Times.

“Rather than exploiting natural resources to generate shareholder returns, we are turning shareholder capitalism on its head by making the country our sole shareholder,” Chairman Charles Cone wrote in a letter to shareholders. luck opinion.

But in the wake of this week’s decision, some affected employees say the company’s attitude toward employees has changed.

“I think the company has changed a lot since it was sold to Mother Earth,” said one employee Interested in trading“Since Yvonne left, the shift in employee care has been slow.”

During the restructuring process, the Chouinard family still has strong control over the company.

“It is factually incorrect to say that Yvonne has resigned,” Kenna said. luck“He will tell you that he works harder now than ever before.”

“Over the last three years we have really worked to strengthen the way we communicate and care for our people,” she said. “And I think it’s a shame to hear that people think we’re doing less because we’re working hard to do more.”