Vibram Corporation

"I worked here for almost two years. It was what one might normally expect from a job. After training I quickly picked up on many of the job's responsibilities. I was communicative, helpful, and attentive. I adapted well to new situations, and soon became capable of working in multiple areas of my department. After a few months, the company began to adopt LEAN manufacturing, which I had prior experience with. I embraced it enthusiastically and offered many suggestions to the people running the department that could have greatly improved efficiency, lowered costs, and offer better clarity to hourly laborers. One small suggestion was to have the manufacturing schedule openly available; all managers had access to it and it was necessary to adjusting the machine throughout shifts. Finding managers or supervisors, who often were not in the department for various reasons, created large periods of downtime and lost productivity. 9 months of constantly asking the department heads and it was never implemented. I brought it to the attention of the person in charge of operations while he was walking through the warehouse one day and he had it implemented immediately, along with several other issues I brought up. Management at Vibram is a toxic echo chamber. People who are not qualified to manage are constantly promoted because they have personal relationships with upper management. One manager, who would almost daily loudly boast about how drunk she got the night before and how bad her current hangover is, used public humiliation as a means of motivating the people she was in charge of. When I brought this to the department head because she had made an elderly woman cry with her petty, passive aggressive behavior, the department head took all of my complaints to her and identified me by name. She pulled me aside the next morning, I laid out my issues, and her response was, and I quote, "I'm sorry you were offended." Then COVID hit, and things immediately got much worse. The operators on the machines in my department were made to work in close quarters, ignoring all social distancing guidelines. Because my department had a contract with the military, the company was able to pull strings to get us labeled as essential employees. We received no wage increases and continued to work 40 hour weeks. Their own safety precautions were ineffective in design and never enforced anyway. We were reprimanded for breaking social distance protocols when outside on our breaks, but expected to break them inside while we worked because of bad optics to anyone who might be driving by. A party was held for a manager who was leaving. There was a cake, and it was distributed by passing it hand to hand in a line, breaking all contact guidelines... and then everyone pulled their masks down to eat. After roughly 9 months of working in these conditions, a manager came around with a gift from the company to show their appreciation for all our hard work... a $25 gift card to the local Hannaford. It was at this point that I brought my concerns about COVID protocols to HR, but they instead set me up to speak with Richard Caron, who was upper management. I began to lay out my concerns and was insulted, demeaned, and told that my concerns about safety were invalid "because I had also taken part in eating the cake." Shortly after, in an "unrelated" incident, I got my first writeup. I had apparently violated the COVID policy by showing up when my brother had called in sick. However, I had brought this up to the person in charge of taking temperature AND my direct supervisor and got the all clear from them. Yet I was the only person who was expected to know policy, because my actions had "endangered others." My managers not knowing the policy apparently hadn't endangered anyone. I was specifically told to stay home until I had a negative test (since my brother and I had been involved in the same exposure risk scenario). Later, after my brother had received his negative test and I was waiting on mine, the company told me that his test was enough. Avoid this place."

"Use to work for Vibram through coworx. It was the only job I looked forward to going to until they let me go. I did everything I could to prove myself. I was a bit slow yes but inspecting was tough with my learning issues. I now work for a job I dispise. Sad part is my great uncles and brother work there and I really thought Id have a future there specially when I was told we will work on getting you in next window. If they like you thats good but I just feel it was unfair to break my spirits as well as others who wanted to try to better themselves. And of course I was told I wasn't good with my co-workers. Yes had some issues but I did talk to management like I was told to. Nothing to big I'm the type who would give you my last dollar if you needed it no matter if I knew you or not."

"American Manufacturer of Rubber soling for footwear"

"I work there, it a good company!"

"My brother works here and they have treated him very well. I also get to try it their product line occasionally and its top notch. You buy a pair of boots with a vibrum soul and it'll last for a long time! I'm happy places like this are still around in the u US!"