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REI has long enjoyed a reputation as a progressive company that promises strong benefits and promotes a culture of inclusion and sustainability. As a consumer cooperative, the outdoor retailer has also eschewed a typical corporate structure. But in recent years, against the backdrop of a union drive, some workers have described a culture at odds with REI’s purported values. Despite successful union efforts at 11 of its 180 total stores, REI workers have not managed to successfully negotiate a contract with the company. The National Labor Relations Board is also currently looking into dozens of unfair labor practice charges brought by workers. Last week, REI members voted against the company’s slate of board candidates, following a union campaign urging them to protest that REI did not allow labor-backed candidates on the ballot. A new report from the National Employment Law Project finds that many REI workers say they have encountered discrimination on the job. In a survey of 219 workers across 10 unionized stores, nearly half47%said they had witnessed or experienced some kind of racial discrimination. Among workers of color, one in five said they had personally faced discrimination at the company. In a statement to Fast Company, REI said the following: “Discrimination has no place at REI. The safety, well-being, and inclusion of our 15,000 employees are non-negotiable priorities for our co-op. We take any concerns about our work environment seriously, including those expressed by the 219 survey respondents. REI has strong policies, procedures and resources in place to help prevent bias and foster a workplace where all individuals are treated with dignity and respect.” REI’s own accounting of its demographics indicates the company has struggled to attract and retain Black and Latino workers. In its 2023 Impact Report, the company said 3.3% of its retail workforce was Black, while 9.6% identified as Hispanic and 6% as multiracial. REI acknowledged that the company was “not as racially diverse as the communities we serve.” Many workers surveyed by NELP also claimed that the company’s DEI strategy had been noticeably pared back since 2021, and that REI’s commitment to conducting racial equity trainings and investing in other initiatives to promote inclusion had wavered. (The company had brought on a chief diversity and social impact officer in 2021 but reportedly eliminated her position when she departed in 2023.) “Diversity, equity and inclusion are foundational to who we are as a co-op, and we recognize that building a truly inclusive business is an ongoing journey,” REI added in its statement to Fast Company. “We remain committed to learning, improving, and driving meaningful progress. Our goal is to ensure that every employee feels valued, respected, and able to bring their whole self to workevery single day.” The workers surveyed by NELP suggested that one reason REI has struggled to maintain a more diverse workforce is because people of color were more likely to be disciplined or pushed out of their jobs. Over 30% of workers of color alleged they had witnessed or experienced racial discrimination in layoffsand REI’s own data on termination rates in 2022 showed higher rates of termination among employees of color and especially Black workers. Many workers of color (29%) also claimed to have seen or personally faced discrimination in the company’s promotion practices. While employees have reported decreased staffing across the company following a reorganization in 2023, workers of color were much more likely to be scheduled for shorter shifts or fewer hours per week. According to the NELP report, 64% of REI’s workers of color logged fewer than 20 hours a week on average, as compared to 38% of their white counterparts. Over half of workers of color also said they want to work more hours, while only 41% of white workers said the same. Workers also expressed concerns over other types of workplace discrimination: They recounted instances of alleged gender bias, discrimination against transgender workers, and issues with accommodations for workers with disabilities. Fewer than one in 10 workers told NELP they believed REI took adequate action in response to discrimination, whether racial in nature or otherwise. Amid ongoing negotiations over a union contract, some employees also allege they have faced retaliation for speaking out about their working conditions and taking protected actions like walking out on the jobclaims that are in line with reports that the company has taken a strong position against unionizing efforts. Perhaps most notably, however, a majority of workers surveyed believe that REI is no longer living up to its reputation as a progressive employerwith 64% of them saying it is becoming a worse place to work.
Category:
E-Commerce
Its feeling like the end of an era. On May 8, Bill Gates announced plans to sunset the Gates Foundation, the standard-bearing charitable organization he started with his now ex-wife Melinda French Gates 25 years ago. The foundation is set to give away more than $200 billion over the next 20 years, including virtually all of Gatess $112 billion fortune, before winding down in 2045. Gates revealed the plans shortly after longtime Foundation ally Warren Buffett announced hell be retiring from Berkshire Hathaway this year, leaving his own $160 billion fortune to a charitable trust, which his children are to disburse within a decade of his death. Now everythings about to change. The announcements from both Gates and Buffett mark a dramatic shift in the world of philanthropy. They point toward a near-future when the two most visible benevolent billionaires of the 21st century will have put their last-ever dollars toward humanitarian causes. Considering that 2025 is a volatile, transitional time for the billionaire class and humanitarian efforts in general, its unclear whether a new wave of ultrawealthy philanthropists will emerge to continue their work. The idea of billionaires giving back has been part of American lore since Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller started donating from their massive industrialist fortunes in the late 1800s. The Gates Foundation took it to a new level, however. With a cumulative $43 billion in assistance from Buffett since 2006, the foundation has spent $100 billion in 25 years to bring vaccination and other treatments to some of the worlds poorest areas, preventing the spread of infectious diseases like HIV and malaria. Beyond their own contributions, though, the foundations leaders hoped to spur a sense of moral obligation in their fellow billionaires. The Giving Pledge era In 2010, inspired by Carnegies essay, The Gospel of Wealth, Buffett, Gates, and French Gates introduced the Giving Pledge, whose signatories publicly promised to donate more than half their total wealth to charitable causes. It was more than just a way to shame some of the worlds richest people into stepping up their generosity; by getting 240 titans of tech and other industries to sign on, the founders helped promote and normalize the idea that giving away a huge fortune is more impressive than building one. By 2015, when signees Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan committed $45 billion to their own charity, philanthropy appeared to be in fashion. Not all of the worlds billionaires had signed on, though. Notable absences included Mark Cuban, Jeff Bezos, and Googles Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Of those who did sign the pledge, some seemed to take advantage of its lack of accountability. Elon Musk stayed quiet about his philanthropic activity after signing, before donating $5.7 billion to his own foundation in 2021. Other signees signaled that they were waiting to leave huge donations in their wills eventuallya move that is easy to back out of and ignores all near-term humanitarian needs. Of course, many of those who signed the pledge ultimately ended up lumped together with those who didnt. As wealth inequality became an increasingly hotter topic in the late-2010s, the concept of billionaire benevolence came under closer scrutiny. No trust in charitable trusts While some billionaires sincerely strive to help as many people as possible with their philanthropy, its no secret that others seem to merely use their philanthropy to help themselves. Some treat their foundations as tax shelters, either to avoid paying estate taxes on an inheritance or to claim deductions immediately and then slowly dole out funds over decades. Others use it as a mechanism to launder their reputations. The Sackler family, for instance, donates enormously from its vast pharmaceutical fortune, perhaps in the hope that more people will remember what they gave to museums, rather than their contributions to the opioid epidemic. As the decade ended with Donald Trump, still in his first term as president, becoming legally barred from operating a charitable organization in New York over his misuse of funds, many Americans could be forgiven for entering the 2020s with a more cynical view of billionaire philanthropy. Whatever shred of Giving Pledge goodwill still clings to the collective reputation of billionaires in 2025 is now hanging on by a thread. Trump has stocked his second administration with billionairesand put Musk, the worlds richest man, in charge of rooting out government waste. One of Musks first moves after Trumps inauguration was to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, which provides humanitarian aid for millions around the globe. If ever there were a moment for benevolent billionaires to demonstrate a commitment to doing tangible good with their philanthropy, its right now. A Harris poll from last August indicates Americans would love to see it, too, with 68% agreeing that billionaires have an ethical responsibility to address humanitarian crises happening around the world. The path forward So, what will the next era of billionaire benevolence look like? As much as the Gates Foundation has performed life-saving, landmark work over the past quarter century, the organization has not been without its issus. Gates and Buffett reportedly disagreed on how the foundation should be managed toward the end, with Buffett warning about the dangers of arrogance, bureaucracy, and complacency in any large organization, while French Gates exited the foundation to pursue philanthropy in her own way in 2024, three years after her divorce from Gates. Since then, French Gates has joined MacKenzie Scott in charting a new path forward for philanthropy. Scott, who dissolved her marriage to Jeff Bezos in 2019, has given over $19 billion to nonprofit organizations in recent years. The red-tape-shedding speed of her donation spree has dramatically outpaced traditional foundations, underscoring the urgency of philanthropic work. Going the decentralized route has freed up Scott from all the business of keeping a foundation running in perpetuity, and French Gates has followed her example, donating funds through her investment company, Pivotal Ventures, rather than launching a new foundation. Although critics argue that this approach fails to provide long-term stability to the organizations the donor assists, it avoids getting bogged down in the board-approved details that can forestall or derail a donation. (By charting an end date for the foundation that bears his name, Gates himself now seems to acknowledge that actually applying funds is more important than keeping the coffers filled forever.) The new way forward for benevolent billionaires might also involve a no-strings-attached approach. While some foundations tend to get bogged down in micromanaging how their funds are disbursed, Scott has given the organizations she donates to free rein. According to her website, Yield Giving, Scotts donations have gone to more than 2,450 nonprofit teams to use as they see fit for the benefit of others. Critics contend this laissez-faire approach leaves nonprofits ill-equipped to handle Scotts donations, but a three-year study from the Center for Effective Philanthropy suggests otherwise. French Gates seems similarly engaged in trust-based philanthropy, reportedly asking some donation recipients to make their own decisions on how best to allocate her funding. As for which kinds of organizations they donate to, Scott and French Gates are unapologetically driven by and focused on their own values. In a moment when all causes related to gender and equality have been demonized, they remain steadfast in their commitment to advancing womens power at home and abroad. Similarly, Laurene Powell Jobs balances marquee philanthropy, like her recent $3.5 billion pledge toward climate action, with smaller values-based acts like giving grants to local leaders for community projects. Meanwhile, some organizations, including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, have scrubbed their charitable works of seemingly anything that could be categorized as DEI. The Giving Pledge movement wasn’t perfect, but it set a humanitarian benchmark and challenged the ultrawealthy to meet it. The culture of heavyweight charity it fostered created high expectations for billionaires, even if it failed to hold them to account upon not meeting them. A performative donation is still a donation, after all. There are now more billionaires than ever, with nearly four new ones minted per week in 2024. Perhaps some of them will go on to forge the next iteration of the Giving Pledge, kicking off a new era of high-profile philanthropy and inspiring more MacKenzie Scotts. Considering the state of things in 2025, it sure looks like were going to need it.
Category:
E-Commerce
Over the past few weeks, Ive traveled across the U.S. and Europe, attending back-to-back leadership conferences. These werent your average networking events; they were filled with C-suite executives asking difficult questions in a particularly charged moment: Whats next for DEI? How do we adapt and innovate when it comes to AI? How do we steer employees in a politically divided country? On stage, speakers repeated polished points, but to me, the most important part of what these gatherings offered wasnt the panel talksit was the smaller, informal meetings taking place, the standing around high-tops, and the walks to the various meals. In these candid conversations, leaders spoke with a level of candor and vulnerability that there isnt always room for at the office. Some asked questions, others gave answers. What unified us all was a strong desire for connection, a resolve to make sense of the world together. Todays leaders are seeing the status quo rapidly dissolve and are looking for support and guidance. As often as not, theyre finding it in one another, not in town halls or board meetings. At one conference I attended, an impromptu group debate over what it means for a brand to have a literal voice in the age of AI prompted a CMO to leave that session committed to developing a sonic identity for their brandnot because of extensive market research, but because of a single peer-driven conversation. More and more frequently, I see firsthand the necessity for executives to have a trusted community to turn to for advice. No Longer Just a Nice-To-Have Todays leaders need more than strategy decks. As we face political uncertainty, technological advancements, and cultural shifts, in this landscape, no leader can afford to try to go it alone. Yet, unfortunately, many leaders are, in fact, just thatalone. Im no stranger to navigating executive circles, but even after years, walking into rooms with industry leaders can still be intimidating. No matter how confident you are, it still takes genuine vulnerability to approach someone, introduce yourself, and initiate a meaningful conversation. This discomfort isnt unusual: many executives Ive spoken to, regardless of their tenure, have expressed feeling awkward or isolated. A recent survey found that over 70% of CEOs experience work-related loneliness, and according to former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, feeling lonely at work reduces task performance, limits creativity, and impairs other aspects of executive function such as reasoning and decision making. In a time where clarity and creativity are crucial, building connections is now more necessary than ever. But the reality is, building connections takes work, and it can often be uncomfortable. The benefits are worth it, however, and for lonely or struggling executives, theres cause to be hopeful. Ive personally seen how many leaders openly embrace community and look out for one another, and Ive also seen how quickly things can change for the positive when leaders get themselves into the right rooms. The ability to speak openly, share notes and experiences, and weigh pros and cons with peers before making decisions is a lifeline. The real value The true value of these communities is deeper than getting access to prestigious circles or hitting a flashy number of followers or connections on LinkedIn. Rather, they help leaders grow and thrive by providing: Space for vulnerability: Real conversations happen away from external pressures to perform. These communities invite leaders to be authentic, honest, and ask the hard questions. Shared experiences: A group that can relate to your experiences and open opportunities for growth. Whether youre looking for new marketing strategies or ways to optimize your product pipeline, it helps to speak with those who get it. Fresh perspective: Cross-industry conversations can spark new ideas and remove tunnel vision. A first-time fintech founder might have something to learn from a seasoned executive at a legacy brand, and vice versa. Strength in numbers: Community provides the collective courage to act together, especially during difficult moments. Youll also get the comfort of knowing others around you are also trying to figure things out, and are willing to help you on your journey. Even though the benefits of community are clear, it can be challenging to know how to find one for yourself. The types of trusting, deep relationships Im talking about arent fostered overnight or over Slack. It takes intentionality to grow your village. If youre wondering how to begin, Id start with the below. Six Ways to Build Peer-to-Peer Connection Be curious. Make a concerted effort to learn about others. Ask better questions, listen more deeply, and follow up in a way that shows you paid attention. Prioritize depth over breadth. Its not all about the numbers. Five deep contacts who truly care about you and your success are better than 100 surface-level connections who dont. Attend curated events. Not every conference is worth your time. Carefully select rooms where the guest list and topics align with your interests and where you have the most to contribute. Give first, give often. Generosity builds trust, so focus on what you can do for others, not the other way around. From advice to introductions, share whatevers in your tool kit. DIY. Its not always about receiving an invite. Sometimes, its better to send one. Whether its a monthly dinner, biweekly Zoom call, or simply a private group chat, consistency is key. Remember: you can always build your own table. Lean into vulnerability. You cant earn trust without taking a risk. Be open and honest, and others will follow. A Call to Lead Together Often, leaders only prioritize communities in times of crisis and have to scramble to find the support they need. But the most important relationships arent built overnight, and its even more difficult to forge them when the pressure is already mounting. Thats why the time to invest in community is now. Leaders should prioritize building connections just as intentionally as they do other aspects of their work. The future of business will be determined by those who connect and collaborate, and those who have built the trust required to make an emergency call at an odd hour. If youre a leader, ask yourself today: Do you have a circle you can turn to when the stakes are high? If not, start creating one now. Start with just one conversation, and keep the momentum from there. Trust is built over timedont waste any more of it.
Category:
E-Commerce
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