Grand Circle Travel FAQ

I have had a very positive experience since joining Grand Circle Travel more than a year ago. I have a great manager and enjoy the people that I work with who are extremely nice, hardworking, and passionate about what they do. The company offers generous benefits which include health, dental and vision, transit and parking subsidies, 401K with a match program, tuition reimbursement, casual dress code, travel benefits, and much more. One of the unique benefits here is the Wellness Program, including an onsite gym. Through the Wellness Program employees can participate in onsite Yoga, Reiki, Meditation and have access to a full-time Wellness coach who is amazing and inspirational. We work hard, but we also get to play hard and enjoy fun things like summer BBQ’s, departmental celebrations, and the annual holiday party. The company motto is “We help change people’s lives” which is evident not only by our traveler’s testimonies but also by the Community Service work that is done both locally in and around Boston and globally. Grand Circle employees are able to participate in monthly events that help to give back to the local community and through the Grand Circle Foundation, the company is very generous in giving time and money to the underserved and underprivileged communities around the world. I am very proud to work for a company that does so much good in the world and that truly helps to change people’s lives.

I have no cons to express at this time.

-Tons of opportunity for growth -Amazing benefits including 100% transit reimbursement - Amazing travel benefits (been to 18 destinations with the company) -Great people to work with

-Long hours and tons of overtime -Call center is a challenging place to work due to nature of job.

Hire enough people to make up for internal growth in organization

Benefits including commuter and pto are competitive. Compensation is above average in the field. Great location.

The reason Grand Circle is the worst is because the owner is petty and doesn’t follow any legal rules or laws, and creates an absolutely terrifying and toxic work environment. Recently the owner has been frustrated at how many people have resigned. As an owner I would see this as a sign that work conditions weren’t good and I would want to know what I could do to improve conditions to encourage associate longevity. Not this owner. This owner, as always, turns a blind eye to his perpetual wrong doings, and instead had his lawyers write to every Boston area competitor threatening them he will sue them for taking any Grand Circle associates. The energy and time and money this witch hunt could take could be spent making Grand Circle less toxic. Grand Circle is toxic because you are treated off of opinion not fact. Factually you could beat all your goals and bring great ideas to the table but if the owner doesn’t like you, you could be the highest performing member of your team and be fired. Our company does a day in New Hampshire every year called Business works and one of the activities is each team does a skit making fun of ourselves as a company. In my many years at GCC there have been no limits to the skits that happen at this theatre... And sometimes they can be downright offensive, but for this event, that has always been tolerated. The purpose is to poke fun at ourselves with the hope that it helps us be better professionals going forward. This year, the owner was so upset that one skit made fun of him choking an associate that he had that entire group write the company an apology note. How humiliating! The irony here is a year ago the owner choked an associate at work and there were many witnesses to it and you can see many other glass door reviews referencing the incident, so while the owner finds it absolutely fine to choke an associate, he draws the line at having a joke be made of that. Fine for him to do it, not fine for someone to make fun of it. Do as I say, not as I do! Then the best part is he fired the twenty plus year associate who leads business work for allowing the skit on stage while he never once apologizes sincerely for having choked an associate at work. The people at grand Circle are all trying to leave, and for good reason. Grand Circle is such a toxic and horrible work place that there is a 500 person plus ex grand Circle (alum) page as a group therapy to help get over the verbal and mental abuse we endured being there, and that page is larger than the current Boston work force. Think of the gravity of that, there are more people who are glad to be out of there than currently work there because it is unsustainable and absolutely a heinous place to work. You will see gendrism, racism, injustice and if you are unfortunate enough to deal with the owner, you will be bullied and targeted for your age, your gender, your weight, your orientation, you name it. My only regret is not leaving years earlier. Avoid grand Circle. No paycheck and no benefit makes this charade worth it.

Alan Lewis, the owner, to sell grand Circle. This place will continue to run to the ground and people will continue to leave in massive turrets if he continues his leadership of this forsaken and dangerous and miserable place to work.

Fantastic wellness program Benefits Potential to learn a lot and meet great people

To prospective employees: while my instinct is to say “don’t’” or “run” like the legitimate reviews here, here is my advice if this place is currently your best option like it was mine. You could have a decent experience at GCC for a little while, especially if you have a manager who protects you from the inherently toxic culture, but keep your resume updated. Know when it’s time to reclaim your autonomy/self-respect and leave of your own volition. Every day people joke about the negatives- how easy it is to get fired, the owner’s temperament, even how many desks you’ve sat at due to constant reorgs, but at one point the cognitive dissonance wears off and it’s just not funny how miserable everyone is. Few have managed to stay for years while remaining level-headed, compassionate, and humble, and I honestly congratulate them while counting them on one hand. The People and Culture department (HR) does a great job considering the Sisyphean work they’re tasked with, so when I say culture I’m not blaming them. I’m referring to the fear/intimidation techniques employed by the upper management that trickles down to through each tier of associates beneath them. Hardworking but completely inexperienced people are catapulted into inflated titles and positions of leadership if they speak the Grand Circle cult language and cozy up to the right upper management. Underqualified but brimming with hubris, they then run teams into the ground, and proceed to jump to new ones before accepting any blame. The “values” of GCC are contradicting and set you up to fail. “Open and Courageous” communication encourages associates to be unnecessarily rude, demanding, and often downright cruel to other. The attitude stems from the frequent temper tantrums of the owner, who is a childish bully and puppet master. His calculated intimidation tactics are darkly fascinating to witness. This review is long enough without citing the myriad of examples of management’s abuse, but find any of the reviews about this year’s Businessworks skit fiasco. It was almost six months ago and he’s still punishing the entire company for his own embarrassment (taking away perks, bonuses, outings, etc). The pros of working at GCC (meet some great people, learn a lot, potential to travel, fantastic Wellness program and benefits, a really cool product) are heavily outweighed by the cons. This place will challenge your integrity. Just be prepared and know your worth.

Everyone at GCC takes this Predictive Index test. The results are said to never change no matter when you've taken it throughout your life, unless you've been through a traumatic event. An associate once said that before she worked at GCC she had different tests results, and realized that working at GCC was her traumatic event. She was laughing about it, but let's all think about that for a second. Working under you isn't just bad, it's traumatic. Start over. Do better.

This organization provides training, as well as familiarity and travel with products (trips) and customers (travelers).

The restructuring of the organization never makes any sense; good people come and go all the time and everyone is supposed to Cheer like puppies and welcome change as part of a corporate value called “thrive in change”. Once someone has left or has been let go, the rumors are entirely outrageous and fake, harming any professional reputation. people Are let go under vague pretenses (performance - despite numbers being good, allegations-when there is nothing specific to present). A dirt war takes place from day 1 and there is no respect for local regulations, nor for sustainable travel ( the benefits are not provided, the terms for vendors are brutal). Generally this organization rewards competitiveness, hostility and dirty work. An electric chair for a career professional.

Foster a more professional environment with accountability and reason. Get rid of the weird rating levers for performance - every traveler knows how it works and it is anachronistic.