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    American Cancer Society Reviews

    Updated September 18, 2017
    1,043 reviews

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    2.9
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    Recommend to a friend
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    Gary Reedy
    221 Ratings

    1,043 Employee Reviews

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    Pros
    Cons

    • Work life balance is non existent (in 104 reviews)

    • No work life balance, training process isn't helpful and most is unnecessary, lots of hours for little pay (in 39 reviews)

    More Pros and Cons

    1. Helpful (1)

      "Lack of recognition"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Community Manager in San Francisco, CA
      Former Employee - Community Manager in San Francisco, CA
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I worked at American Cancer Society full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      The mission. Those battling cancer or those that were lost know that they have a team of hard working people going through this with them.

      Cons

      As a non-profit, you are expected to pick up the slack on events without being recognized for your hard work and accomplishments. Very sad to work so hard and not be formally thanked by management.

      Advice to Management

      This job isn't just about "making your goal" it's about those who work so many long hours, time away from their families, not being about to have a personal life all because you can't seem to figure out why so many good people leave this organization or figure out how to keep them. Just a few words of praise, a gift of thanks, a solid recognition for their time and stop looking at it as "using donor dollars" that it wouldn't be proper....it is proper because without these hard working souls, you would not be making the money you do or the teams coming back, or the sponsors giving money, or the event to happen.

    2. "Good and Bad"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee

      I have been working at American Cancer Society full-time

      Pros

      Benefits, including PTO and Insurance.

      Cons

      Salary, no room for growth.

      3. Join the American Cancer Society team
      See Our Latest Jobs

    3. Helpful (1)

      "Good work for a good cause"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends

      I worked at American Cancer Society (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      Great people. Good benefits. Team work.

      Cons

      Recently focus too much on fundraising & not enough on programs

    4. Helpful (3)

      "Great mission, rough work environment"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at American Cancer Society full-time

      Pros

      Amazing mission, phenomenal coworkers and volunteers, generous vacation time, flexibility, good benefits

      Cons

      crazy hours, constant change, frequent downsizing, low morale, very little career advancement since positions are cut frequently

      Advice to Management

      Please take care of your employees! Disengagement is high, morale is low, and our mission will suffer if this isn't addressed.

    5. Helpful (1)

      "Continuous restructuring"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Creative in Atlanta, GA
      Former Employee - Creative in Atlanta, GA
      Doesn't Recommend
      Neutral Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I worked at American Cancer Society full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      Working for a company you can believe in and feel good when you go to sleep at night.

      Cons

      Shuffling management and loss of co-workers leaving due to shuffling management makes it hard to feel attached to projects as they may be taken away at any moment or you may be overloaded and lose the ability to give any project the needed attention.

      Advice to Management

      Hire people who care and invest in leadership skills.

    6. Helpful (1)

      "Stop changing"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Senior Manager
      Former Employee - Senior Manager
      Negative Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I worked at American Cancer Society full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      Benefits were good. People that work there are there because they care.

      Cons

      The former regime ran it into the ground. Lack of recognition and raises.

      Advice to Management

      Value your employees. Change fatigue happens. Bring back what made money. Let the Divide decide what is best for them.

    7. "Community Development Manager"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I worked at American Cancer Society full-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      Admirable mission and hard-working, dedicated colleagues and volunteers. Great PTO benefits.

      Cons

      Unfortunately most of the reviews I've read below hit the nail right on the head, so if nothing else at least ACS is consistent. The middle management at ACS is by far the worst I've ever encountered in my professional career. The senior management seems to have plans to revive the organization, but when it comes down to executing those plans it's a disaster. Part of this is due to the fact that the middle management hasn't changed much throughout all these "transformations" of the past several years, and they are the ones who are keeping things stagnant. The people who are hired in the Community Development positions come to the organization open minded and with fresh ideas, but their managers micro manage and refuse to allow any progress, despite being told that that won't be the case anymore. It's all talk and no action. Then the community managers leave out of frustration (and with a bad perception of ACS) and the cycle continues. It's truly frustrating and unfortunate.

      Advice to Management

      If you truly want ACS to change for the better and be competitive in the non-profit world, you need to do a better job at attracting (and retaining!) employees with outside experience to the organization, and allowing to bring their knowledge and experience instead of expecting them to totally conform to the archaic ACS ways. Having middle management with limited outside professional experience has really caused ACS to be stuck. This will not lead to innovation and growth. There are far too many people who are not suited for their roles but are kept around, at least that is the case in Ohio. Throughout all these "transformations" in the past several years you have lost all the good employees and kept all the awful ones.

    8. Helpful (1)

      "community manager"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Doesn't Recommend
      Neutral Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at American Cancer Society full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      mission and programs and services are amazing and the volunteers you work with are incredibly passionate. there is some flexibility in the hours, but you have to be okay with long weeks and lots of evenings.

      Cons

      work hours are really long, with lots of weekends and evenings. About 6 months of the year is probably close to if not over 50+ hours. Systems need a lot of improvement, but the blame is never put on our IT team and is always felt by on the ground staff because we have to field all of the complaints from our volunteers and donors. Benefits are okay but salary is low for the amount of hours and wear and tear on your car and compared to other staff members in the next role up.

      Advice to Management

      Clear priorities, as the priorities currently laid out for staff is basically do everything, with minimal to zero budget. But the pro to this is that the organization is very good at maximizing the donor dollar and puts a huge emphasis on this, which is great to see!

    9. "Great Cause"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Doesn't Recommend
      No opinion of CEO

      I worked at American Cancer Society full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      The cause and the passion of the volunteers really inspires you and makes you want to do your best.

      Cons

      Management is always restructuring and reducing workforce. Puts more burden and work on those that are still there.

    10. "Community Development Manager"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Current Employee - Community Business Development Manager
      Current Employee - Community Business Development Manager

      I have been working at American Cancer Society full-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      Good, value driven colleagues. Great mission.

      Cons

      Very heavy work load, not a 40 hr job.

      Advice to Management

      I don't have anything here

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