TREK BIKES ARE ICONIC. They’ve
been ridden all over the world—on
mountainsides and city streets, in
small towns and in big races like the
Tour de France. The road to success
started back in 1976, when Dick Burke
founded Trek Bicycle in Waterloo, Wis.
The company went from building bikes
in a barn to building a billion-dollar
business. Dick’s son, John Burke, who
is now the president of Trek, credits thecompany’s global success to creating
a great atmosphere for employees,
which has helped land Trek Bicycle
on Fortune’s 2020 Best Workplaces in
Retail list.
“Our attrition rates are insanely low,”
says Chad Brown, Trek’s chief fi nancial
offi cer and vice president of retail. Part
of that, he says, is due to competitive
pay and great benefi ts, which include
medical, vision, dental, and 100% paid
maternity leave. But Brown says it goes
beyond the material incentives: “Culture
is our greatest asset.”
Trek maps this out in its “10 Non-
Negotiables of Trek Culture,” which are
distributed in a bound book to every
employee. The list embodies the com-
pany’s shared set of attitudes, values,
and goals that defi ne what Trek is and
how it does what it does. For example,
number one is “have good energy,” be-
cause “energy is contagious, whether
it’s positive or negative.” Seventh on the
list is “deal with reality,” an approach
that speaks to corporate transparency
and communication, and sharing all
news, whether it’s good or bad.
“It’s a combination of speaking fre-
quently with all employees and inviting
people to behave like a family in how
we communicate,” says Mark Joslyn,
vice president of human resources and
IT at Trek.
The word “family” is used a lot at
Trek to describe its culture. One of the
challenges of being a family-owned
company is making employees who
aren’t related to the Burkes feel like an
important part of the business. That’s
why Trek created its Employee Stock
Ownership Plan: It means the company
is technically family- and employee-
owned. The plan enables employees
to be part of the company’s fi nancial
success. This drives accountability, and
it drives the culture. “We have a saying
at Trek,” says Brown. “It’s: ‘The right
people in the right seats on an awe-
some bus.’” ■PROFILE 20 20 | BEST WORKPLACES IN RETAILCONTENT FROM TREK BICYCLETHE TEAM FROM TREK BICYCLE STUYVESANT TOWN,
NEW YORK CIT Y (L TO R: ERIK ALVAREZ, EDWARD
HOGAN, SIMPLEE GITTENS)A Bi ke Company That
Puts Its Employees at
the Handlebars
How Trek Bicycle creates happy employees
who never want to leave.