Bloated, sluggish organization with poor performers everywhere and poor management - Anonymous employee AARP Employee Review

3.0
1 July 2011
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

A regular paycheck, benefits that are not great but are better than nothing, HQ is located in an excellent area and easily accessible by metro

Cons

Poor performers are not only tolerated but promoted including managers. In Research we did 360 reviews and the worst managers who received the worst ratings were...promoted! Dinosaurs who do not move with the times or live in the real world. Little to no oversight of the telecommuters who misuse it, do the bare minimum to get by, and are praised to high heaven for the efforts. Some departments are better than others. Research is absurd and should be avoided unless you can get a cake job in state research, telecommute from anywhere, get a great paycheck, and do as little as possible. I once called a stater on her telecommute day and she was…in the car on the way to get a massage! Another was shopping.

Explore other reviews about AARP

5.0
28 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

great benefits even for interns like free lunch, reimbursed parking, hybrid work. good opportunities to network, hone your skills, and potentially get a permanent role within the organization.

Cons

long onboarding. lots of hr training.

2.0
2 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

benefits are strong - pension, vacation, sick, caregiving work life balance is generally good

Cons

AARP suffers from a serious toxic work culture, particularly in the IT and Digital Transformation departments. Leadership is atrocious. People leading the 2 key technology functions for the business are incompetent and ego maniacs. Both departments are extremely toxic with burned out employees and contractors. Money gets wasted in the extreme due to these factors. Constant signal switching on projects and priorities. Everyone you work with is unhappy. Bullying and retaliation are common. Avoid these departments in particular, but the whole organization is top heavy, with terrible leadership all around. Still there are some great and talented people, but it's not the norm, and senior leadership is wrought with incompetence and arrogance. The organization flails around endlessly, and blows money with no discipline or rigor to their work and methods. Think someone is juicing the Glassdoor numbers with people saying the place is great. No opportunity for growth. The organization tries to do good work, and does in many ways, but it's so poorly run that it severely hampers its potential.

4
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