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American Red Cross

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American Red Cross reviews

3.3

50% would recommend to a friend

(4,609 total reviews)
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Gail McGovern

68% approve of CEO

48% positive business outlook

American Red Cross has an employee rating of 3.3 out of 5 stars, based on 4,609 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The American Red Cross employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the ONG y Organizaciones sin fines de lucro industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

5K reviews
1.0
Apr 11, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Volunteers and a few employees still genuinely driven by the humanitarian mission.

Cons

The primary mission of the American Red Cross for the last few decades has been to dupe and fool the American public into donating massive amounts of money for causes which don't require them - such as collecting blood and the Japanese tsunami. Hospitals need blood far less these days due to technological advances in plasma substitutes, but ARC likes the revenue stream so pretends blood is still needed in massive quantities. Then there is the Japanese tsunami - the Japanese Red Cross told ARC they didn't need or want any financial assistance, yet ARC continued fundraising for them. Why? ARC wanted to look like it was doing something when CNN started calling. On the flip side, ARC does not do anything for causes that actually need help, such as Hurricane Sandy (read the ProPublica article on ARC, available online) or the Haitian earthquake (ask anyone in the international community exactly how much effort and risk ARC has put into reconstruction - the answer you will get is close to zero). Having worked for over half a decade for the charlatans, scoundrels, rogues, and con-men/women that compose the current leadership/management structure of the Red Cross, I tell you they are only driven by three things: (1) minimizing ARC media scandals (hard to do these days); (2) avoiding doing any actual relief work (they outsource) due to their fear of scandal/liability; and (3) their salaries.

1.0
Jan 23, 2015

Going down down down

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good concept for humanitarian assistance. Staff work hard and have good hearts and intentions.

Cons

Management doesn't have a clue. Takes advantage of staff, makes poor decisions, wastes staff and donor time. Need to revisit pay scale system. Those in executive positions are highly compensated while others are not. continually downsizing.

3.0
Jan 22, 2015

Meaningful work, limited pay and career advancement

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Amazing organizational mission makes one feel good about going to work. Family-friendly and flexible working arrangements are available if needed.

Cons

Constant change in personnel and organizational structure makes consistent work product challenging. Promotions are arbitrary. Too much emphasis placed on decisions by large teams with no clear leaders to make important decisions, leading to too many meetings, too little emphasis and rewards for good work and results. Management should empower people to make decisions and be accountable. HR needs to revisit its compensation strategy and not assume a one-size-fits-all approach to pay structures works across business units and functional teams.

Viewing 25 - 27 of 4,609 Reviews

Glassdoor has 5,263 American Red Cross reviews submitted anonymously by American Red Cross employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if American Red Cross is right for you.