employer cover photo
employer logo
employer logo

American Red Cross

Is this your company?

Long time employee. I worked in a variety or roles from Chapter, to NHQ, and international. - Operations American Red Cross Employee Review

2.0
Mar 18, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Ability to serve an important mission. Opportunities to interact with volunteers, whether at the ground level, or with community leaders.

Cons

Starvation of leadership. Too often those with experience working in non-profits, and those with experience within the organization are let go and replaced by individuals with no experience working in a complex non-profit environment. There is a sense that bringing in people with for-profit experience will solve the problem. Conversely, there is a culture of hiring "like" minded people in the area of disaster. If you worked in City or County disaster, then you must be a good fit in the ARC. This results in a lot of persons with on the ground experience, but little management, leadership or supervisory experience. Boards are uneducated in their roles and flounder in their attempts to understand what they should and should not focus on.

Explore other reviews about American Red Cross

5.0
Mar 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible schedule, ability to choose healthcare provider, merit awards

Cons

Lack of transparency from leadership, favoritism towards those in their leadership programs

2.0
Mar 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You feel connected to a larger mission, and go to bed knowing you did good work. Most of the volunteers are amazing people. The job is a good stepping stone to other disaster management jobs elsewhere. PTO policy is generous and Healthcare is decent.

Cons

You are INCREDIBLY overworked and GROSSLY underpaid. You get zero work-life balance. Even when you're not on call, you'll still get tons of calls from volunteers with questions and concerns. If a volunteer is unavailable to respond to a fire call or tend to any other responsibility day or night, you're on deck. You're salaried, so there's no overtime pay. Your pay barely covers the basic cost of living in today's economy ($40k-$50k). Diversity is bottom heavy, meaning there are lots of employees of color in entry level or lower management roles, but beyond that there's a steep drop off. Most of the volunteers are great, but the Red Cross is so desperate to keep them, that poor behavior and language (racist/sexist/phobic) is not properly disciplined or responded to, if at all. Employee retention is poor, especially in the Disaster Specialist role, because they burn you out so quickly without decent pay.

1
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All