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American Red Cross

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The Apheresis Department in Albany, NY is an unhealthy environment to work and lacks professionalism - Apheresis Donor Specialist American Red Cross Employee Review

2.0
31 July 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Donors are wonderful and some of the coworkers are a joy to work with. It's a meaningful job and it's a great feeling to know you are part of saving someone's life.

Cons

Unfortunately the main supervisor does not know how to supervise or be objective. She allows her personal feelings about select staff to overshadow her ability to be fair. She is aware of staff conflicts and ignores them especially when it involves a staff member in her "click". She makes no secret of who she likes and dislikes, and often makes demeaning remarks to the staff she doesn't care for in front of donors or she will act as though you are not even there. She enforces "procedures" only to those that aren't in her "click" and those that are in her "click" have free reign of the site... i.e. OT when they want, calling in last minute without repermand, not having to follow procedures, or being rude and disrespectful to other staff and sometimes even donors.

Explore other reviews about American Red Cross

5.0
14 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Friendly people and good work

Cons

No cons for this company

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.

2
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