Pros
Few good sales and recruitment trainings. Red Cross is a recognizable name, good networking opportunity. Looks like a large restructuring is in near future, in a few years this may make it a much better organization.
Cons
Management is completely out of touch. When employees bring up issues the response is "deal with it," and no action is taken to see if the issue real, why the employee is upset or what can be changed. Management often responds to issues with “it is what it is…deal with it.” Salaried workers are expected to work long hours (50-60+ a week) "because they are salaried." When in regional meetings recruiters are told that they should spend less that 25% of their time doing administrative tasks but there are no administrative assistants or support staff. All support people have left and have not been rehired. (See: speed up) Management does what they can to prevent employees from receiving incentive pay. For example, if the trucks break down on the way to a blood drive the recruiter is held responsible. If the staff who are supposed to work at the blood drive need to call out sick and the drive is short staffed, the recruiter is held responsible. If there is a large snow storm that knocks out all power and blocks road, recruiter is held responsible. Meetings with manager usually consisted on manager looking at computer screen, either answering emails or shopping for clothing rather than having a conversation about how employee was doing in position. Recruiters are not asked for their opinions. If something goes slightly wrong or if recruiter has a drive that does not come into goal then management is incredibly interested in why and asks for essays explaining from recruiter. However, when something goes well nothing is said. No positive encouragement. Many workers are looking for a new job and "need to get out." It is sad how negative the culture can be at times. Though the need for blood has dropped 14% and is expected to continue to drop about another 14% collection goals have not been adjusted, they have been raised. Often hear rumors of blood being thrown away because it cannot all be processed. When management is asked about it, question is not addressed they just want names to find where rumor is coming from. Very conflicting and if this is not true it should be told that is it not true....so is it? Information is not shared so often employees are left in the dark. Change seems near impossible. HR department is hard to reach and does not respond to employee with questions, HR representatives will take questions and reach out to employee’s managers first before responding to employee. Sexist environment, inappropriate comments often made about employees bodies, appearance and sex life. Often times terms such as “Lazy Bitch” and “whore” are heard in the office as reference to fellow coworkers who are not present. Management likes to express political beliefs with strong passion in meetings. Management is very anti-union. When management tried to rid of many health care benefits and union workers stood up for their needs it was expressed very openly how easily replaceable everyone was. Racist tendencies when it comes to serving and working in areas with minorities. Very negative things said about areas with predominantly minorities, employees often advised to lock doors in car when drive though certain parts of town. Needs to work on having management and staff respect and accept people from various cultures and backgrounds. No training or orientation for new recruiters in their positions, just a long training on the history of the Red Cross. Took over 3 months and numerous calls to HR to be paid for last months work.