Great mission and great people, but fundamentally broken
Pros
- The Red Cross genuinely does have a great mission, and it's unique in the nonprofit sector in that it relies SO heavily on volunteers (this is a pro and a con). If your goal is to have a career in volunteer coordination/management, there really aren't many places that are better than ARC. You'll likely have oversight of dozens, if not hundreds of volunteers on your team. - Great mission, and you do provide tangible assistance to people as part of your job. It turns out it wasn't for me as the compassion fatigue became way too much, and we frequently deal with challenging individuals. - Many opportunities for upward and lateral moves if you embrace them. It's an organization where you can experience in almost anything if you ask. - Generally a very kind and supportive culture (but sometimes it goes too far and becomes toxic positivity). Many people who likely shouldn't be here, are still here. - Senior leadership is transparent and easy to communicate with. - A lot of autonomy and decision-making authority about on-the-ground programs. - Opportunity to work with an incredibly diverse group of people with different talents. - Surprisingly good PTO (if you're salaried) - Most offices are allowing hybrid work or fully WFH
Cons
- Insane reliance on volunteers. Red Cross volunteers are amazing, but ARC runs such a large number of programs, as well as the 24/7, immediate-assistance program (DAT) that it becomes extremely difficult to deliver the mission depending on your volunteer team, the time of year, etc. - Constantly changing expectations and huge shifts in policy with very little time to implement them. An example is DAT. For more than a year, it was fully virtual, and then they suddenly said virtual response is not allowed anymore and gave us about 2 weeks to transition back. All of this was after stating that virtual work would remain an option. - You're on call 24/7 with no differential. They'll tell you that if you get and engage volunteers, you won't be, but it's not true. Very few disaster employees across the country have the workforce necessary to not be on call at all hours, and even when there is a team, programs are so convoluted and ever-changing that you'll still get called. At dinner? On PTO? Visiting family? Sleeping because it's 3 in the morning? Doesn't matter. You'll get a call. It depends on the area you cover, but I get calls after work hours about 6 days per week, and 4 days per week I get calls between 1 AM and 4 AM. - Pay is a little ridiculous for the geographic area that Disaster employees cover. You're managing a dozen programs, hundreds of volunteers, and trying to keep track of all government and private agencies in your area for barely more than $20 an hour. - Leadership teams are very good at listening and being verbally supportive, but there are few positive changes year over year for the average employee despite the organization doing very well financially. - You deal with people on their worst days. It can easily make you jaded. Many disaster workers also deal with harassment. - Very stressful position. The problems you deal with aren't 'business problems' like a missed deadline for a slide deck (though there are a ton of those too), but they're problems that cause people to sleep on the street or not able to get their medication. - Lots of people at ARC take credit for the accomplishments of people on the ground. - Turnover is very, very frequent. A large amount of knowledge is lost with the amount of turnover every year. I've never worked in a company that so many people resign from.