EAA Reviews

Pros

Day to day coworker relationships are wonderful. AirVenture is an amazing experience, truly one of a kind, and meeting all sorts of new people and seeing their aviation passion is amazing.

Cons

The directors, mid level managers and worker bees are the glue that hold it all together. Senior leadership and HR is seriously toxic. There is zero confidentiality, and nobody looks out for the employee. The power trip that HR exudes is real and if you aren't on the "good" list you are targeted. They do not work for the people. If you tell something in confidence, they speak to others, twist words and do nothing to help fix the problem areas. You constantly feel like you are alone with no senior leader having the integrity to go to bat for you.

Pros

Most associates below senior leadership genuinely care about each other, relationships with volunteers feel more like family

Cons

Senior leadership cultivates a toxic culture—distrust, double speak, poor communication, poor decision making, abusive communication with employees, disempowering

Pros

- Some really great coworkers. These are the people that will keep you and the organization together. People I’m forever grateful to have known, and a few I've made lifetime friendships with. - A great aviation community outside the building - You’ll support the best aviation event in the world - Experiences you won’t get anywhere else - Employee flying club

Cons

- The good reviews are planted. If you love aviation do not work here – they will completely destroy that passion. Don't let the "family friendly" and nonprofit facade fool you. The ‘family’ culture hasn’t been there since the founder was involved. - Those with innovative ideas, who challenge things to make a better organization, or who are willing to stand up against unethical or poor business decisions need not apply because you will be fired or pushed out the door. If you're not part of the good ol' boys club and don’t just stay in your lane, you'll be fired or pushed out the door. If you are a high performer and good at what you do, you will either be pushed out the door because you'll threaten authority or you will leave once you realize what is going really going on. - Unethical HR practices that put hard working, good people's jobs and livelihoods in jeopardy. They do not adhere to confidentially at all so if you approach them with a private issue, they will tell your leader immediately. There is no assistance or protection for the employee. I know many people who have sought their help and advice, and have given serious complaints with complete dismissal. They don’t believe employees, and they partake in the bullying and toxicity alongside senior leaders. - No recognition: you will not receive a raise based on performance, leadership skills, or accomplishments. EAA brings in an incredible amount of money so don't let the nonprofit facade fool you. That will always be their excuse that they can't pay you what you're worth. You are not empowered and you really need to keep to yourself and not try to drive any change if you want to survive there. They will only focus on and find negativity in what you do, and not what you do well. - No vertical advancement: they will do one of two things. 1. They will hire outside. This allows them to continue to mask the internal issues by bringing in new people and exiting experienced, tenured people who challenge things. 2. They will give you a run around to make you believe you are working on an advancement plan but will never actually carry through. You will take on the work of the advancement, but not be given the title, recognition, or pay for it. - Hostile work environment. When I say hostile, that is not an exaggeration. Some senior leaders and HR use bullying, actual screaming, threats, demands, verbal abuse, interrogation, lies, and manipulation on employees regularly. The worst is that the CEO is closest to those leaders that do it, knows it goes on, and supports it. HR will NOT help mitigate or address issues, they support and participate in this behavior. I have witnessed them gossiping about employees, working together to find ways to fire good people, and creating divide. There are employees who get targeted and once that happens, you have no chance of survival there. They don’t like people who stand up for what’s right, who challenge the norm or them, who try to pave new paths (which often just confuses them), or who don’t fit their mold. - Senior leadership with no experience in the areas they are leading. They don’t care about the mission, members, or the employees. The middle management and the few high performers do all they can for the members, to keep moving the organization forward, and to keep EAA relevant in the community, despite a leadership that does not value grassroots aviation, the member’s voice, the younger generations, or meeting aviation where it is today. They use middle management and other employees as the escape goat for their ineptitude. - If you are not part of the small inner circle your opinion is not welcomed, valued, or respected. You will be treated like a child with a simple mind. As I’ve said, I have watched employees be yelled and sworn at, threatened, and bullied. I have witnessed gaslighting at dangerous levels if you are targeted. I've witnessed them intentionally run off hard working and dedicated staff. If they didn't have anything to actually write them up for, then they made it up. - No mentoring, leadership guidance, or training. EAA’s solution is to fire you if there is any small issue. Or many times no actual issue. They will not help you, give you options, or work with you on improvement plans. Senior leaders are not capable of mentoring or growing their people because they are grossly inexperienced and don’t have any traits of a true leader. - The CEO: He is out of touch with the business he is leading, unable to bring teams together to move a business forward, and doesn't have a strategy and vision. I have witnessed the CEO gossip about employees of his organization many times, he does not care about them. And, he simply stopped doing the engagement survey because morale has gotten so low, so this way he doesn’t have to report on it. He just keeps restructuring to mask issues and supports and aligns with leaders who interrogates, creates destruction, spends most of the day gossiping and scheming, uses scare tactics, fires people without cause, and instills great fear in employees on a daily basis.

Pros

Aviation! AirVenture! Cool facility! Did I say aviation?

Cons

You're not welcome at the strategy table unless you're senior management. The "inner circle" comments in other reviews are spot on. Best of luck to you if you're not a part of it. Because rather than being drawn in to leverage your expertise and background, you will be made to feel small and unimportant, or worse, ignored.

Pros

EAA is an amazing place to work with a 1-of-a-kind experience. You get the best of both worlds - business minded, but small non-profit. Ignore the Debbie Downers on here. There is a small group of people who like to complain and add to the problems instead of working to solve them. Yes, there are a lot of men here, but they are respectful to ALL employees regardless of gender (the complainers aren't top performers, so it's easy to blame that on being a woman instead of realizing you're just not good at your job, ps I'm female). There has been turnover recently, but ALL good! Many people who leave to experience working elsewhere end up wanting to come back. The current HR team is amazing! They're actually working to clean up the problem employees and develop those of us who wish to make a career here and are motivated to do good work! You will develop long lasting friendships here. Great benefits, including an employee flying club. Access to fun events (Family Flight Fest, Hops N Props, Christmas in the Air, new exhibits, etc). Flexibility. Fun employee events (cooking competitions, basketball games, picnics, plane rides).

Cons

-Extra hours in the summer in preparation for AirVenture, but you get to experience AirVenture, which is totally worth it - Senior leadership isn't as available if you need 1:1 recognition. They're all approachable and nice. -Significant volunteer population can be difficult as they're not governed like regular employees are -No wellness programs -Not always immediate vertical growth, but lots of horizontal growth in other departments -Some managers need more guidance on being good managers