employer cover photo
employer logo
employer logo

American Red Cross

Is this your company?

Please don't work for, or donate to, the American Red Cross - Collection Specialist American Red Cross Employee Review

1.0
1 July 2010
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-you get paid to travel, if it takes an hour to get to the job site, you get that hour at your pay rate -coworkers can be fun -when it's slow, you get paid to do nothing

Cons

-for a job thats supposed to be non-profit, they sure care a lot about making money -management blatantly just does not care about employees -rules rules rules rules rules -pay is only ok -when it's busy, it feels like a constant dinner rush at a fast food restaurant -rarely does someone compliment you on your hard work, most people (donors, sponsors, management, donor recruitment, everyone) looks at us like gears in a machine. -late ending drive (not home till 10) followed by a start time of 6 AM the next day. -drives are constantly understaffed, goals seem to be set unrealistically -I'm a male, so it rarely effects me, but some coworkers constantly gossip about each other, and go out of their ways to make each others lives miserable. -management tries to get you to work harder by using guilt and fear. -constantly given new "best practices" and "corrective actions" to fix an error rate of literally .001% (a "trend" is when 4 or more "problems" are detected in a couple of months, when we can do as many as 4000 procedures a month) -staff are treated as children, with constant micromanagement, and tons of rules, by management that has absolutely no idea how the process works. - (non-needle/blood bag) equipment is outdated and sometimes downright broken, making the easy part of the job sometimes harder than necessary. -constantly told "you're helping to save lives!" to try and make the work experience seem worth it all, but actions speak louder than words.

Explore other reviews about American Red Cross

5.0
16 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

My experience working with the Red Cross has been great. The work is fulfilling and the people are passionate. Benefits are good - Kaiser is $6 a month!

Cons

There is work life balance, but there is an expectation to work nights and weekends.

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