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American Red Cross

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Constant harassment and incompetence - Blood Collections Specialist American Red Cross Employee Review

1.0
Sep 21, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Perhaps there are better jobs outside of the collections department. Many people who start in collections stick with it long enough to work in a different department and seem happy, but very few people work long-term in collections.

Cons

I heard jokes and offensive comments about women, jews, rape, black people, hispanics, etc without fail every single week from staff there. Several from my trainers, one who expressed that "men are just better than women" to a group of trainees, including myself. I spoke up about it and nothing was done. I came from a hospital background and found that most instructors had no technical knowledge of how blood products are actually used medicinally. My instructor fell asleep on the first day of teaching us about our job at the company, and his boss came in the room and thought it was funny. No one in management could figure out where one employee (who had to commute for mandatory training) was supposed to clock in, and the issue was not resolved for months. When I got fed up and quit there wasn't anyone to actually quit to that day, so I sent an email to their concerns group about why I was quitting. HR routinely leaves every friday, and sure enough they were gone before 2 pm that day, so I couldn't even quit to them.They sent me a letter saying I had been terminated for not showing up, the next week, even though I had quit and told them so. The sheer incompetency of every single department was apparent to me while working there. The additional week meant they subtracted 400$ from my remaining checks (their insurance is EXPENSIVE and not good). My first check was full, for one week of work, but every check after that retroactively subtracted additional pay for benefits, even though I didn't have my cards yet. When I called to ask how to get my money back for the last month of checks no one knew who to talk to. The collections department is not allowed to have breaks longer than 30 minutes, even when working long shifts, which seems as though it is illegal.

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5.0
Apr 16, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

My experience working with the Red Cross has been great. The work is fulfilling and the people are passionate. Benefits are good - Kaiser is $6 a month!

Cons

There is work life balance, but there is an expectation to work nights and weekends.

2.0
Mar 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You feel connected to a larger mission, and go to bed knowing you did good work. Most of the volunteers are amazing people. The job is a good stepping stone to other disaster management jobs elsewhere. PTO policy is generous and Healthcare is decent.

Cons

You are INCREDIBLY overworked and GROSSLY underpaid. You get zero work-life balance. Even when you're not on call, you'll still get tons of calls from volunteers with questions and concerns. If a volunteer is unavailable to respond to a fire call or tend to any other responsibility day or night, you're on deck. You're salaried, so there's no overtime pay. Your pay barely covers the basic cost of living in today's economy ($40k-$50k). Diversity is bottom heavy, meaning there are lots of employees of color in entry level or lower management roles, but beyond that there's a steep drop off. Most of the volunteers are great, but the Red Cross is so desperate to keep them, that poor behavior and language (racist/sexist/phobic) is not properly disciplined or responded to, if at all. Employee retention is poor, especially in the Disaster Specialist role, because they burn you out so quickly without decent pay.

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