employer cover photo
employer logo
employer logo

American Red Cross

Is this your company?

Workplace bullying & hostile work environment at its finest - Account Manager American Red Cross Employee Review

1.0
3 Jun 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Saving lives, meeting caring people in the community, am I at the 20 Word minimum yet? Volunteers are sweet, sweet people and the board of directors are great people.

Cons

No leadership, no training, abusive & hostile work environment. A district manager who won't respond to emails, won't answer phone calls, who belittles their employees and has NO CLUE HOW TO DO THEIR JOB. Upper management is only worried about checking a box and making sure their high six figure salaries & bonus are secure. No local support. No local HR. No local Communications person- you can't run Louisville from Nashville. You will be thrown under the bus at a moments notice. If you are their best rep you are treated like their worst rep. Management is completely out of touch with their reps and what a donor recruitment account manager actually does. No employee moral, nothing to foster a positive healthy work environment. The only sign of appreciation you will receive is a $1 scratch off lottery ticket at Christmas. Random & inconsistent performance evaluations, no rep rankings. The expectations change daily. There is NO WAY to know how to do your job because it changes weekly/daily (literally). Expectations is that you will shut up and not say a word. You will take the verbal abuse. You will tolerate having your goals raised and logistically, it is IMPOSSIBLE for everyone to achieve the goals set forth. That is how they save money. Screwing their reps out of their monthly incentive is actually a directive so that the company can save money. 40% of your income is based on achieving goals that are unattainable, compensation plans that change quarterly, or month-to-month, a completely divided company- collections on one side (no leadership) and donor recruitment on one side (no leadership). Management takes no responsibility. It is a constant blame game, holding someone else accountable, passing off the workload. Management doesn't want to make any changes that would require them to make a decision or be accountable. No one would think that the American Red Cross, the largest most recognized humanitarian organization would treat their employees this way. Inconceivable. Absolutely inconceivable. And it keeps getting worse and worse and worse.

Explore other reviews about American Red Cross

5.0
4 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good work life balance, fair pay and great work environment

Cons

Not a lot of upward mobility unless you find a different role in the organization. It’s also hard to switch between departments

2.0
15 Mar 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.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All