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Side view of two people walking next to building wearing Brooks black jackets

Workplace, Runners and Run Community

Our approach

The run is who we are. At Brooks, we believe in the power and kinetic joy of the run. This fuels our passion for the sport and the running community. The shoes and gear we develop, the experiences we create, and the partnerships we build should help make the run more inclusive and accessible. We are taking a strategic approach to reduce barriers to participation in the running industry, on the run, and in the running community.
Our diversity, equity and inclusion

Our efforts are guided by three objectives:

OBJECTIVE 1 Workplace Promote a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace. OBJECTIVE 2 Runners Champion the run for all. OBJECTIVE 3 Run community Welcome more people into the run community.
workplace
OBJECTIVE 1:
Workplace

Promote a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace.

We believe in the power of diversity, which includes people of different races, ethnicities, national origins, abilities, genders, ages, sexual orientations, body types, and circumstances. We pursue practices that create access to opportunity and a culture where all our teammates are welcomed and valued.
Group of Brooks employees holding a sign saying "Global Running Day"

Our commitments*:

  • Achieve at least 50% women representation at all levels of Brooks employees in Europe
  • Achieve at least 25% female representation on director level
  • Attain at least 40% female representation on managerial level
  • Maintain at least 4.0 out of 5.0 Inclusive Culture Score on Brooks employee Cultural Strengths Survey

*All diversity, equity and inclusion commitments apply to the EMEA only

Gender demographics

At Brooks, we focus on growing women's leadership in our workplace through hiring practices and our leadership and career development programmes. We aim to create a healthy pipeline of gender-balanced talent to help lead Brooks.

Cultural diversity

As a global company, we recognise the uniqueness of cultural diversity in the European context. We strive to ensure that our European workforce reflects the diversity of the European population. We collect and analyse data on the demographic diversity of our workforce at each level of our organisation as we work towards achieving cultural diversity among historically underrepresented groups.

Pay equity

Brooks began incorporating pay equity analysis into our hiring, promotion, and compensation processes in 2018. During offers and our annual compensation reviews, we analyse pay equity across employees in similar roles within our organisation.

Inclusive culture

Brooks is committed to maintaining a workplace culture where our teammates are welcomed and valued. We contribute to this through our various employee programs, including Mentorship, Leader-Led Training, Connect Manager Training, Unconscious Bias Training, New Employee Orientation, Brooks Buddy, Speaker Series, Book Club, Employee Awards, and Employee Resource Groups. On an annual basis, Brooks conducts an employee Cultural Strengths Survey to assess our culture. One area of focus within the assessment is “inclusive environment”, which is rated on a 5-point scale. We also do an overall review of our organisation’s annual inclusion scores by demographic cohort to ensure there are no significant disparities between employee groups.

runners
OBJECTIVE 2:
Runners

Champion the run for all

We commit to tell stories with a diverse set of runners and celebrate the power of the run to bring people together.
Three runners side by side on concrete path

Our targets:

  • Maintain 40% BIPOC representation in marketing stories and images
  • Achieve 40% BIPOC representation in product testing by 2025
  • Achieve 40% BIPOC representation in consumer insights by 2025

REPRESENTATION IN:

Marketing

Brooks recognises the importance of representation, and we believe our marketing should reflect all who run. We work to champion the run for all through our model casting in photography and videos, our influencer and athlete teams, and our campaign partners.

Product wear testing and consumer insights

We want to make sure each run is better than the last — a simple enough principle that guides every design and engineering choice we make. These decisions are brought to life by the unique, real-world humans who wear our gear. Our success is the result of tireless research with runners of every shape, strength and experience. We value runners’ unique experiences and perspectives and seek to ensure we incorporate feedback from all who run as we develop our gear.

run community
OBJECTIVE 3:
Run community

Welcome more people into the run community

Brooks engages directly with our community by building partnerships with industry organisations and through our community impact programmes that support teams and organisations advancing health and well-being through the power of the run.
Two runners are running together in a park

Brooks x parkrun

Brooks has been involved with parkrun since launching a three-year partnership in the UK and Ireland back in 2020. Across the past three years Brooks has visited dozens of parkrun events, surprising communities with freebies, games and giving park runners the opportunity to walk, jog, run or volunteer in their shoe trials. Recently, the partnership was strengthened with Brooks stepping up to global footwear partner across every parkrun territory and become presenting partner in the USA, the Netherlands and Germany.

 

At Brooks, we believe in a world where everyone who wants to run feels welcome and has the place to do so. parkrun’s global presence and shared beliefs make this partnership a meaningful step forward in efforts to engage people everywhere so all can access and experience the power of the run in their own communities.

 

The multi-year partnership helps to keep parkrun events free, for everyone, forever, supporting all who want to take part – whether that be running, jogging, walking, volunteering, or coming along to spectate.