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Appalachian Mountain Club

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Love my peers, disheartened by upper management - Anonymous employee Appalachian Mountain Club Employee Review

3.0
Apr 25, 2024
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I love the work that I do. As a lifelong conservationist, hiker, naturalist, paddler, fisher, etc, it's a privilege to work in a field where I can work to conserve the outdoors. My peers keep me going. We're all like-minded folks who love our work and support each other. Lower-level management is super supportive and truly cares. Benefits are a pro. Reimbursement for driving, travel, food, etc is great. 10 free bed nights a year is awesome. The option to work remotely is nice.

Cons

Pay equity is the opposite of transparent. Staff are paid on a "sliding scale" but seeing that performance reviews are no longer tied to raises, nobody knows how to actually move up the scale. Communication from upper mgmt to staff is sub-par on a good day. Constant organizational restructures are giving everyone a major headache. When opportunities to diversify AMC staff appear, mgmt and the board routinely chose the cisgender white people to fill spots.

Explore other reviews about Appalachian Mountain Club

5.0
May 13, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good work life balance flow

Cons

Low pay and not the best conditions

2.0
Jul 23, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Access to really special outdoor locations - national and state parks, etc. Mountains and lakes and incredible hiking trails. Good work/life balance, remote work available, solid comp time for outdoor work. People in lower non-management roles are tend to be really cool and interesting. Really committed and responsive volunteer network. Reliable seasonal work in rural New England.

Cons

REALLY RACIST! The way they talk behind closed doors is shocking. Very few people of color in the organization and they are treated as problems over and over, never given promotions. They hired a consultant to diagnose racial issues and the results were extremely bad. Management then ignored their suggestions and it's like it never happened. Over the past couple of years most staff of color quit or were fired. Customers of color who come into the parks and locations to hike & camp are treated with suspicion. Leadership is comically incompetent - they have no idea what goes on in the organization and even less about the outdoor industry. Seems like they hire their friends as consultants and executives and blow money and then went on a firing spree to save money. Cliquey and dishonest management. They will lie to you about everything and everything. It's really frustrating to have some random manager who knows nothing about your job lie to your face. They're always looking for someone else to blame for failings and there is zero loyalty. Working here does not feel stable, everyone is constantly worried they'll be laid off or fired. A general vibe of misery throughout the organization. You get the feeling people can't quit because they don't have options in their rural areas. The pay and benefits are also really bad, even for a non-profit. Compared to other organizations in the field they pay the lowest they can get away with and the health insurance has a very high deductible. It's called passion exploitation, people want to work outdoors and care about the environment so they take poor pay etc. to be able to. And then people sort of live with and deal with the unhealthy work environment because they want to be outdoors. It's not worth it.

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