{"id":155303,"date":"2020-04-06T13:25:21","date_gmt":"2020-04-06T20:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=155303"},"modified":"2022-08-03T19:59:39","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T02:59:39","slug":"stewarding-the-co-op-through-unprecedented-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/stewarding-the-co-op-through-unprecedented-times","title":{"rendered":"Stewarding the Co-op Through Unprecedented Times"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

To Our Co-op Community,<\/p>\n

Three weeks ago, in the face of the growing outbreak of COVID-19, I shared our decision<\/a> to temporarily close our 162 retail locations and continue paying all of our retail employees and maintaining their benefits through April 14. As that date approaches, I want to share what we\u2019re doing next.<\/p>\n

Our hope is to begin a gradual reopening of our stores in the coming months. We plan to begin with curbside pickup hopefully in the next 45 days. And we look forward to welcoming you all back into our stores when it\u2019s safe to do so. As we did with our decision to temporarily close our stores, we\u2019re going to prioritize the safety of our employees and customers and closely track federal and local guidance.<\/p>\n

While we cannot predict the future, we must make informed assumptions and plan accordingly to control what we can. We\u2019re particularly focused on the next few months because we don\u2019t know exactly when we\u2019ll be able to reopen our stores. We believe this will be the most challenging period for our business, and we have to make\u00a0some immediate decisions that impact REI employees.<\/p>\n

Those decisions begin with me and with my senior leadership team. I am forfeiting 100% of my base salary for the next six months, as well as forfeiting all of my incentive eligibility for 2020. Our board of directors is forfeiting their fees for the next six months as well. My entire senior leadership team will be taking a 20% pay reduction for the next six months and will also forfeit all of their incentive eligibility for 2020.<\/p>\n

We have also made the decision to begin an unpaid 90-day furlough of the majority of our retail and field employees, beginning on April 15. During this period, all health and welfare benefits will continue as normal for all eligible furloughed employees. In addition, REI will also pay the employee portion of benefit premiums, which means we\u2019ll be covering 100% of eligible employee health and welfare premium costs for all furloughed employees for all 90 days for those employees. All furloughed employees will be eligible to\u00a0apply for\u00a0government-funded unemployment pay.<\/p>\n

Our limited operations mean we are also making overall reductions of our headquarters workforce. All impacted full-time employees will receive severance along with outplacement services and support.<\/p>\n

As the co-op\u2019s CEO, my job is to serve our employees and you, our members. This current crisis is testing us all, but we have worked to make sure our decisions and actions are consistent with the co-op\u2019s mission and values.<\/p>\n

To everyone who has reached out with suggestions about ways to help the co-op and our people during this period, I thank you. We have considered every option, and I\u2019m confident the actions we\u2019re taking are the most beneficial for affected employees. The best thing you can do to continue to support the co-op is to continue supporting the co-op\u2014both our business and our community of nonprofit partners across the country. In the coming days, we\u2019ll be sharing more about how to directly support that nonprofit network.<\/p>\n

And even with our stores closed, we\u2019re working hard to continue serving your needs. Most orders through REI.com are being shipped for free<\/a><\/u>. Customers who have questions about gear and local outdoor activities can get answers through our digital guide, Uncommon Path<\/a>, which features\u00a0articles that help people find ways to safely get outside\u00a0during these challenging times.<\/p>\n

I am determined and committed to seeing the co-op through this. I am optimistic we will come out of this crisis as strong a community and business as we were coming into it. And I will continue to fight to ensure the co-op will be here for another 82 years to connect our members to a life well lived outdoors.<\/p>\n

My best,<\/p>\n

Eric Artz<\/span>
\n<\/span>President & CEO, REI Co-op<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To Our Co-op Community, Three weeks ago, in the face of the growing outbreak of COVID-19, I shared our decision to temporarily close our 162 retail locations and continue paying all of our retail employees and maintaining their benefits through April 14. As that date approaches, I want to share what we\u2019re doing next. Our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":158260,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[685],"tags":[1999,692,682],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-155303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-covid-19","tag-news","tag-rei-news"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/news\/stewarding-the-co-op-through-unprecedented-times","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Stewarding the Co-op Through Unprecedented Times","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/stewarding-the-co-op-through-unprecedented-times","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/stewarding-the-co-op-through-unprecedented-times"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/04\/April-6_Hero_06_Harnois_041617_0336-2000x1200-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/04\/April-6_Hero_06_Harnois_041617_0336-2000x1200-1.jpg?fit=2000%2C1200"},"articleSection":"News","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jessica Bernhard"}],"creator":["Jessica Bernhard"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["covid-19","news","rei news"],"dateCreated":"2020-04-06T20:25:21Z","datePublished":"2020-04-06T20:25:21Z","dateModified":"2022-08-04T02:59:39Z"},"rendered":"